Method of and apparatus for drying and plasma-assisted disinfection of hands
AssigneeHochschule Fur Angewandte Wissenschaft Und Kunst Hildesheim/Holzminden/Goettingen
InventorsWolfgang Viöl, Stephan Wieneke, Lars ten Bosch, Robert Köhler, Alexander Syring
Life of this patent
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Abstract
To dry a hand with fingertips and a carpus, the palmar aspect and the dorsal aspect of the hand are blown dry, starting from the fingertips, by a pair of planar gas jets, wherein the gas jets of the pair run towards each other in the direction from the carpus to the fingertips at an angle of less than 180°. By applying high-voltage AC pulses with respect to ground to dielectrically shielded electrodes arranged next to both planar gas jets, direct discharges are obtained across the hand on the palmar aspect thereof and on the dorsal aspect thereof.
Claims18
An apparatus for hand drying, the apparatus comprising
- a housing having a hand insertion opening, the hand insertion opening having two longitudinal sides,
- two slot nozzles, each of the two slot nozzles being arranged on one of the longitudinal sides of the hand insertion opening, the two slot nozzles being oriented into the housing at a slant angle to blow off a palmer aspect and a dorsal aspect of a hand inserted into the hand insertion opening with a pair of planar gas jets emerging out of the slot nozzles,
- dielectrically shielded electrodes arranged next to the slot nozzles, and
- an alternating high voltage source connected to the dielectrically shielded electrodes and configured to apply high frequency alternating high voltage pulses with regard to ground to the dielectrically shielded electrodes, the dielectrically shielded electrodes being arranged such that the alternating high voltage pulses applied to the dielectrically shielded electrodes generate direct discharges on the palmar aspect and the dorsal aspect of the hand inserted into the hand insertion opening.
An apparatus for hand drying, the apparatus comprising
- a housing having a hand insertion opening, the hand insertion opening having two longitudinal sides,
- two slot nozzles, each of the two slot nozzles being arranged on one of the longitudinal sides of the hand insertion opening, the two slot nozzles being oriented into the housing at a slant angle to blow off a palmar aspect and a dorsal aspect of a hand inserted into the hand insertion opening with a pair of planar gas jets emerging out of the slot nozzles,
- dielectrically shielded electrodes arranged next to the slot nozzles, and
- an alternating high voltage source connected to the dielectrically shielded electrodes and configured to apply high frequency alternating high voltage pulses with regard to ground to the dielectrically shielded electrodes, the dielectrically shielded electrodes being arranged such that the alternating high voltage pulses applied to the dielectrically shielded electrodes generate direct discharges on the palmar aspect and the dorsal aspect of the hand inserted into the hand insertion opening,
- wherein at least one of the dielectrically shielded electrodes is facing a dielectrically shielded counter electrode held on ground potential across a neighboring one of the slot nozzles such that the alternating high voltage pulses applied to the dielectrically shielded electrode cause a dielectric barrier discharge in the neighboring one of the slot nozzles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.