News

UV light as a new weapon in the virus fight

UV light as a new weapon in the virus fight

Tokyo (SCCIJ) – A Swiss and a Japanese technology company are contributing to the fight against the new coronavirus with ultra-violet light that does not affect humans. Smolsys, a Swiss start-up company based at the Technopark Lucerne, seals UV-light emitting microsystems in glass. Light specialist Ushio plans to mass-produce two different types of UV lights for the disinfection of rooms and desks.

UV light as a new weapon in the virus fight

The Swiss start-up encapsulates microsystems in glass (© Smolsys).

No harm for humans

The Swiss start-up company has developed a tiny glass capsule with a welded-in microsystem emitting 220 nanometres of UV-C light. This wavelength does not harm human skin. Photons destroy the DNA strands of viruses, bacteria, and fungi within seconds. “Reproduction is interrupted and the microorganisms cannot develop resistance to UV light,” explains Smolsys CEO Sandro Schneider.

Until now, energy-guzzling mercury vapor lamps have been necessary for this radiation output, for example, to disinfect surgical instruments. The technology from Smosys, on the other hand, is applicable in small devices and battery-powered. According to a Swiss newspaper report, the microsystem can be installed as a capsule in door traps, handles, lift buttons, food drawers, hand dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, or jewelry boxes. There it acts as a harmless disinfectant without chemical additives. This greatly expands the range of applications, according to an announcement by the business incubator Technopark Lucerne.

Smolsys manufactures glass frames for microtechnology implants since 2015 with a capacity of up to one million vitreous bodies per year. An important customer is the medical industry. For example, Smolsys encapsulates heart pacemaker batteries in glass instead of titanium as is usually the case. As a result, the batteries can be charged from outside the body thanks to their permeability to electromagnetic waves. This avoids an early replacement via surgery.

UV light as a new weapon in the virus fight

The Ushio lamp (left) is for ceilings, the other one can be inserted in other lightings (© Ushio).

Production alliance

The Japanese light manufacturer Ushio based in Tokyo has chosen a different path. According to a Nikkei report, it aims to supply several hundred of its UV ceiling lamps by this summer. Prototypes have been tested at U.S. and Japanese medical centers since April. The filtered excimer lamps generate 222nm of far UV-C light capable of inactivating viruses and bacteria on indoor surfaces.

The box-shaped device weighs around 1 kilogram and bathes beds, desks, and clothes in UV light. It has a timer to schedule hourly exposures. Ushio will start mass production around October of a smaller type that can be added to lighting fixtures. An Ushio manager reported demand “in the hundreds of thousands of units”.

Its US subsidiary has just announced a strategic alliance with Acuity Brands to supply its UV disinfection module. The partner plans to incorporate these lamps into a range of its products, including its ceiling and wall-mounted lighting fixtures that can operate in occupied or unoccupied spaces, to reduce pathogens in the air and on surfaces.

Text: Martin Fritz for SCCIJ

LATEST NEWS

RECENT NEWS

  • 2024
  • +2023
  • +2022
  • +2021
  • +2020
  • +2019
  • +2018
  • +2017

Sign up to our weekly newsletter to keep up-to-date with our latest news

UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR