Page 63 - Climate Control News May 2020

New products
Solution decontaminates indoor air in buildings
The system also restores oxygen ion levels and treats germs before they infect people by continuously disinfecting the air.
“The system has enormous public health ben- efits, such as, improving indoor air quality in building environments including medical, healthcare, office, retail, education and hospital- ity facilities,” Leng said.
“Additionally, this strategic technology increases the health and wellbeing of building occupants, thus improving facility performance and efficiencies.
“This timely innovation has been tested exten- sively by world leading virologist Dr. John Oxford.” AtmosAir’s ability to reduce airborne and surface infections has also been detailed at length by Dr. Philip M. Tierno, Jr Professor of Microbiology & Pathology, New York University
School of Medicine.
“Through this partnership we can provide so-
lutions in conjunction with its range of smart technologies, products and equipment, to fight back against ineffective building operations and poor indoor air quality, which may also contrib- ute to viruses such as COVID-19,” Leng said.
JOHNSON CONTROLS AUSTRALIA has an- nounced the availability of AtmosAir an air puri- fying system that can actively and continuously disinfect and decontaminate indoor air in build- ings and facilities.
It is a timely release with the COVID-19 virus continuing to spread across the globe.
The partnered Johnson Controls AtmosAir so- lution works by producing bipolar ions that at- tach themselves to airborne viruses, odours and pollutants, rendering them inactive.
The bipolar ions intercept infected particles causing them to agglomerate and fall out of the air, actively reducing microorganisms that col- lect on surfaces (a common source of infection)
including bacteria, fungi, mould, spores and air- borne viruses such as coronavirus.
Johnson Controls said it has introduced the AtmosAir solution to the Australian market in response to the urgent need for a product that can help reduce the spread of viruses such as COVID-19 through indoor air systems, including commercial air conditioning.
The system also restores oxygen ion levels and treats germs before they infect people by contin- uously disinfecting the air.
The company’s APAC president, Visal Leng, said that as the virus spreads, Johnson Controls is com- mitted to supporting critical infrastructure such as hospitals and temporary medical facilities.
Lighting system to combat COVID-19 production-ready
MELBOURNE BASED LIGHTING design com- pany, Brightgreen, has engineered ultraviolet lights to combat the transmission of COVID-19.
The lights are ready for production in Mel- bourne, according to the company’s CEO, David O’Driscoll.
“Many buildings will need to stay occupied during this pandemic,” O’Driscoll said.
“Automated UV-C lighting is the safest and most compliant option to eliminate viruses in these spaces.”
Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) has been an accepted disinfection practice since the mid-20th century. It’s also been used in China to disinfect trains and buses of COVID-19 since ear- lier this year.
Brightgreen’s head of engineering, Nathan Moffat, said UV-C is well established in medical practice as a way to eradicate viruses. “The chal-
lenge is to keep it safe and economical,” he said.
While studies show that UV-C lights kill, or inactivate, viruses, the lights can also cause eye and skin damage.
Brightgreen states that
they’ve mitigated this risk by
linking the lights to their well-
ness system, which uses pres-
ence monitors to determine if
anyone is in the room. “You
could be running laps or passed
out cold, the system will recognize your presence and stop the UV-C lights from turning on,” Moffat said.
The system is set up to be fully automated to run overnight. The lights themselves are dual spectrum, so they can switch between regular visual lighting and UV-C.
Automated UV-C lighting is the safest and most compliant option to eliminate viruses.
Brightgreen said they designed the lights to be easy to install for a fast, scalable solution.
“We made the designs for this system open source,” O’Driscoll said, “so other manufacturers can tool up to increase the speed to market with this high-impact system.”
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