In a typical, normal day, how many times a day do you think about touching your face? Or perhaps your phone? Most likely, very little if not at all; however, what we’ve witnessed during the global pandemic of COVID-19, is a heightened sense of touch awareness, or being cognizant of surfaces we touch. In this unprecedented season, people and society as a whole have become very aware and wary of touching objects within our surroundings. Items we tout around every day, like a cellphone, can now be transporters of the infamous COVID-19 virus, based on what have or haven’t come into contact with.
Disinfection and disinfecting solutions have been important for a while but even more so now as individuals have increased their disinfecting usage and commercial activities are required to increase their routine disinfecting practices, oftentimes disinfecting multiple times per day. There are new rules and regulations imposed by local governing authorities to safeguard residents and prevent widespread transmission of COVID-19. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has provided numerous guidelines and recommendations of how to be proactive in preventing your exposure as well as numerous other sources, though the underlying statement is to routinely disinfect commonly touched surfaces and objects.
So as demand increases, experts sought out new ways to provide disinfecting solutions. One such effective disinfecting measure can be done by using Ultra-Violet (UV), especially UVC (deep UV 100-280nm), as an effective and safe (chemical-free and requires no filtration) manner to perform this “cleaning operation.” Because when micro-organisms are exposed to UVC light, the light penetrates through their cell walls and disrupts the structure of their DNA molecules, therefore prohibiting reproduction.
Powered by ON Semiconductor products, our channel partner, Future Electronics, leveraged our joint knowledge to quickly design a disinfecting solution and find the right solution for powering the UVC LEDs to meet customers’ demands. The results are our joint design for a Sanitizer box disinfection solution. The box can easily sanitize any object that fits within the sanitizing box-like keyboards, computer mouse, cell phones, masks, handheld devices and restaurant devices, all within 3 minutes killing up to 99% of germs. According to the Huffington Post, “new research has found that your computer or laptop keyboard is 20,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat.” Thus, it is essential to routinely clean commonly touched objects and surfaces, even before COVID-19.
The box design solution specs are 500x300x200mm with an output power of 7W. The design includes the LED driving, implemented with FL7760, and utilizes power management from an AC line, carried out by FLS136HR. Due to ON Semiconductor’s broad portfolio, Future Electronics has suggested not only the core components for LED Driving and Power Management but also possible HMI implementation, such as RSL10 BLE Module, LC717A10AR touch controller and LC898302 haptic driver. The joint design also advises on how to ensure that humans don’t come into direct contact with UVC exposure by implementing lid lock which uses NUD3112LT1G and prevents the user from opening the Sanitizer Box lid until the disinfection cycle is completed.
See the below block diagram for our core solution for our Sanitizer Box.
A few key target features of this system are:
- Insulated power supply to control and power the UVC LED load
- An electromechanical lock to keep the Lid closed when the LED are powered
- An HMI which can be a simple push-button or a small screen
- Optional connectivity
- An host microcontroller than coordinates the activities
The proposed solution can help designers achieve a quick time to market, and, thanks to Future Electronics and ON Semiconductor expertise and support, the design can easily be replicated for different sizes or different disinfection purposes.
Products utilized for the UVC Sanitizer Solution System Design
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