Ultrasonic sanitation and disinfecting device and associated methods

A device for sanitizing and disinfecting a space, the device comprising:

• a tank having an interior space, the tank having a bottom sector, an exhaust sector having an inner wall, and an air inlet sector having an inner wall facing the exhaust sector inner wall, wherein the air inlet sector inner wall and the exhaust sector inner wall form a compression region for an air pathway within the interior space, the tank further having an air inlet in the air inlet sector and an exhaust outlet in the exhaust sector;
• an aqueous liquid having at least one of sanitizing, disinfecting, and sterilizing properties carried within the tank interior space;
• a reactor vessel positioned within the tank bottom sector;
• means for continuously transferring the aqueous liquid into the reactor vessel;
• an ultrasonically vibratable disc having an ultrasonic head array to generate ultrasonic energy, the ultrasonic head array positioned within and beneath a top edge of the reactor vessel and submerged within the transferred liquid at a substantially constant emersion depth, wherein the continuously transferring of the liquid and vibratable disk in operation form a plurality of atomized micro-particles therefrom;
• air flow means operable for providing a preselected flow of air within the interior space from the inlet toward the outlet, the air flowing through the compression region from a high pressure to a low pressure, so as to cause smaller particles within the plurality of micro-particles to move more quickly than larger particles thereof, the preselected flow of air allowing at least a portion of the larger micro-particles to fall back to the tank bottom sector and the plurality of micro-particles preferentially enriched with the smaller micro-particles;
• a mesh filter having a first cross sectional portion positioned for initially receiving the preferentially enriched micro-particles and a second cross sectional portion downstream therefrom, wherein the first cross sectional portion is smaller than the second cross sectional portion, the mesh filter positioned for passing the preferentially enriched micro-particles through the mesh filter prior to exiting the exhaust outlet for a filtering thereof, and wherein the air flow means results in exhausting the preferentially enriched micro-particles from the reactor vessel through the exhaust outlet to a space exterior of the tank.

A device for sanitizing and disinfecting a space comprising:

• a tank dimensioned for carrying an aqueous sanitizing liquid in an interior space of a tank, the tank having a bottom sector, an exhaust sector having an inner wall, and an air inlet sector having an inner wall facing the exhaust sector inner wall, the air inlet sector inner wall and the exhaust sector inner wall forming a compression region for a air pathway within the interior space, and further having an air inlet in the air inlet sector and an exhaust outlet in the exhaust sector;
• a reactor vessel carried within the tank interior space above a lowermost portion of the bottom sector, the reactor vessel having a cradle;
• means for continuously transferring the aqueous sanitizing liquid from the tank interior space to the reactor vessel;
• an ultrasonic head array having an ultrasonically vibratable disc, the ultrasonic head array supported by the cradle, wherein each ultrasonic head array comprises a plurality of vibratable disks affixed to a top surface of the ultrasonic head array, the ultrasonic head array positioned within and beneath a top edge of the reactor vessel and submerged within the transferred liquid, the ultrasonic head array thus positioned at a substantially constant emersion depth resulting from the continuously transferring liquid step so as to form a plurality of atomized micro-particles during operation thereof;
• means for providing a preselected flow of air within the interior space from the inlet toward the outlet, the air flowing through the compression region from a high pressure to a low pressure, so as to cause smaller particles within the plurality of micro-particles to move more quickly than larger particles thereof, the preselected flow of air allowing at least a portion of the larger micro-particles to fall back to the tank bottom sector and the plurality of micro-particles preferentially enriched with the smaller micro-particles;
• and
• means for exhausting the preferentially enriched micro-particles from the reactor vessel through an exhaust outlet to a space exterior of the tank.

A device for sanitizing and disinfecting an environment comprising:

• a housing having an inlet and an outlet positioned for air flow therebetween;
• a reactor vessel carried within the housing;
• an aqueous liquid having at least one of sanitizing, disinfecting, and sterilizing properties carried in an interior space of the housing;
• air flow means providing an air flow from the inlet to the outlet of the housing;
• means for continuously transferring the aqueous liquid from the housing interior space into the reactor vessel;
• an ultrasonic head positioned at a preselected and fixed level below a surface of the aqueous liquid in the reactor vessel for forming a plurality of atomized particles to be emitted therefrom;
• means for compressing the air flow between the inlet and the outlet for causing air to flow from a high pressure to a low pressure, thus causing smaller particles within the plurality of atomized particles to move more quickly than larger particles therein, the air flow compressing allowing at least a portion of the larger particles to fall away from the outlet and thus preferentially enrich the plurality of atomized particles with the smaller atomized particles;
• and
• a mesh filter having a first cross sectional portion positioned for initially receiving the preferentially enriched micro-particles and a second cross sectional portion downstream therefrom, wherein the first cross sectional portion is smaller than the second cross sectional portion, wherein the mesh filter is positioned for filtering the preferentially enriched atomized particles when the particles pass therethrough toward the outlet;
• and
• means for exhausting the preferentially enriched atomized particles from the housing into a space outside the housing.