Apparatus and method for treating impurities in air and materials
AssigneePrimaira, LLC
InventorsKaren Benedek, Philip C. Carbone, Derek Affonce
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An assembly and method for treating or otherwise improving an atmosphere contained within an enclosed space. The enclosed space can be a container such as a bag or other housing for equipment, food and/or suitable material. Ozone is generated within an atmosphere that is exposed to the material. The generated ozone is mixed with the atmosphere. At least a portion of the generated ozone is then removed from the mixed atmosphere. The assembly and method can be used to treat contaminated sports equipment and the like, as well as to treat food storage atmospheres, such as those exposed to fresh fruits and vegetables.
Claims29
A method for at least one of sanitizing, decontaminating, deodorizing, conditioning and drying an atmosphere exposed to a material within an enclosed space, the method comprising:
- circulating a flow of the atmosphere containing a contaminant through an atmosphere treating unit;
- Passing the flow through a light baffle at a viewing angle to contain UV light in the atmosphere treating unit;
- generating ozone within the reaction zone;
- mixing generated ozone with the contaminants in the flow in the reaction zone;
- exposing a mixture of the contaminants in the flow and the ozone to UV light in the reaction zone to remove at least a portion of the contaminants in the flow;
- removing at least a portion of the ozone from the flow in a removal zone downstream of the reaction zone by catalytically decomposing the ozone with a catalyst comprising manganese dioxide and copper oxide to form an ozone-depleted mixture containing an amount of ozone below a preselected threshold amount;
- and
- exhausting the ozone-depleted mixture into the enclosed space.
A method for at least one of sanitizing, decontaminating, deodorizing, conditioning and drying an atmosphere exposed to a material within an enclosed space, the method comprising:
- circulating a flow of a contaminant-containing atmosphere through an atmosphere treating unit;
- passing the flow through a light baffle at a viewing angle to contain UV light in the atmosphere treating unit;
- generating ozone within a reaction zone of the atmosphere treating unit;
- changing a flow direction of the flow in the reaction zone to uniformly mix the generated ozone in the contaminant-containing atmosphere within the reaction zone;
- exposing the flow throughout the reaction zone to UV light;
- oxidizing at least a portion of contaminants from the mixture of the contaminant-containing atmosphere and the ozone by exposing the mixture to the UV light to increase an oxidation reaction rate in the reaction zone of the atmosphere treating unit;
- removing the ozone from the mixture of contaminant-reduced atmosphere and the ozone in an ozone-removal zone downstream of the reaction zone to form an ozone-depleted mixture containing an amount of ozone below a pre-selected threshold amount;
- and
- exhausting the ozone-depleted and contaminate-reduced atmosphere into the enclosed space.
A method for at least one of sanitizing, decontaminating, deodorizing, conditioning and drying an atmosphere exposed to a material within an enclosed space, the method comprising:
- circulating a flow of the atmosphere containing a contaminant through an atmosphere treating unit;
- passing the flow through a light baffle and containing the UV light in the atmosphere treating unit;
- generating ozone within a reaction zone of the atmosphere treating unit;
- passing the flow and changing a flow direction of the flow between an air inlet of the atmosphere treating unit and an exit from the reaction zone and causing a uniform mixture of the ozone in the contaminant-containing atmosphere within the reaction zone;
- exposing the flow throughout the reaction zone to UV light;
- oxidizing the contaminants from a mixture of the contaminant-containing atmosphere and the ozone by exposing the mixture to the UV light to increase an oxidation reaction rate in the reaction zone of the atmosphere treating unit;
- irradiating with the UV light in the reaction zone of the atmosphere treating unit the mixture of contaminant-containing atmosphere and the ozone and killing at least a portion of microbiological contaminants from the mixture;
- removing the ozone from a mixture of a contaminant-reduced atmosphere and the ozone in an ozone-removal zone downstream of the reaction zone to form an ozone-depleted mixture containing an amount of ozone below a pre-selected threshold amount;
- and
- exhausting an ozone-depleted contaminant-reduced atmosphere into the enclosed space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.