Far UVC in Healthcare

To design and implement a project that uses Far UVC light to kill viruses in a clinical setting.

Project Overview

UV light is used regularly and to a great extent throughout the healthcare community to kill viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Although very effective (99.9% disinfectant rate), UV light presents safety hazards with the radiation it possesses and its ability to harm human skin and eye cells. That's where Far-UVC comes in. Far-UVC has the same ability to kill pathogens that Germicidal UV light has, without the harmful effects towards human skin and eye cells.

The difference between UV-light used to kill viruses (UVC light) and Far-UVC light is quite simple: the wavelength. Normal UVC light ranges anywhere between 100-400 nanometers. This range of wavelength allows the UV light to penetrate the top layer of human skin cells and disrupt reproduction. Far-UVC light has a strict wavelength of 208-222 nanometers. This wavelength is not strong enough to enter the top layer of skin cells, but is strong enough to penetrate virus and bacteria cells, thus sterilizing any surface the light comes in contact with.

Far-UVC light is fairly new in production. Many companies are trying to implement more Far-UVC into facilities to decrease the amount of bacteria and viruses while also not having to worry about the bad effects that come from regular UVC light. This project aims to design a product that can be experimented within clinical settings by measuring the amount of viruses killed under conditions that would allow people to maintain working underneath the light.

Team Picture

Lars Krugel, Draeson Marcoux, Parker Esswein, Vanessa Obrycki, Derick Peters, and Tyler Linderman

Files

Final Notebook (December 9, 2020)
Final Report (December 9, 2020)
Final Poster Presentation Slides (December 9, 2020)
Final Poster Presentation (December 4, 2020)
PDS (December 9, 2020)
Preliminary Report (October 7, 2020)
Preliminary Presentation (October 2, 2020)

Contact Information

Team Members

Derick Peters - Team Leader
Parker Esswein - Communicator
Draeson Marcoux - BSAC
Lars Krugel - Co-BWIG
Vanessa Obrycki - Co-BWIG
Tyler Linderman - BPAG

Advisor and Client

Prof. Randolph Ashton - Advisor
Dr. Ernesto Brauer - Client