Projects and Products

Respiratory masks are based almost exclusively on elimination of aerosols by filtering action of tissues. This is cost-effective, but also has the disadvantage that a reduction in the mesh width or pore size of the filter fabric is required to increase the filtering effect.

This manual process is error-prone and tedious. In most cases, disinfection gels must be evenly distributed on the surface according to the manufacturer's instructions, allowed to act for a certain time, and then removed again in a further process step UV disinfection with high irradiation doses enables efficient, and rapid, inactivation of microorganisms adhering to the device, thus sterilizing it.

By including a photodiode on the submount, accurate detection of the radiation intensity of each LED is possible. It uses the photodiode's characteristic curve to control the intensity of each LED via its current. Decreases in output due to aging can thus be detected and compensated for within certain limits. The aluminum reflector developed in the project, which was largely developed by project partner OSA OptoLight GmbH, collects and shapes the (UV) LED light. The downstream microlens array made of quartz glass mixes the different wavelengths with only a slight increase in divergence.

Breaking infection chains in the clinical environment is one of the biggest challenges in the healthcare system. At the same time, however, digitization is also being driven forward here and, for example, patient records are being maintained digitally. Increasingly, data entry and processing is done via smartphone or tablet. These devices often move from hand to hand, easily enabling pathogen transmission. Chemical disinfection of the sensitive devices is not possible due to the aggressiveness of the disinfectants.

The task of Fraunhofer IOSB-AST in this subproject is, on the one hand, the physical simulation of the radiation propagation as well as the air flow in the planned system and, on the other hand, a determination of the optimal LED arrangement and number and the simulative design of the necessary cooling system. Furthermore, an efficient control of the LEDs as well as their monitoring shall be realized.

Common practice is currently wipe disinfection or disinfectant cleaning by cleaning professionals. However, the desirability of regular disinfection - ideally several times a day - is limited due to the large number of potentially contaminated surfaces. Moreover, cleaning agents or disinfectants are often applied in excess without concrete feedback on the associated disinfection performance.

AKIT is researching a new type of recovery chain consisting of a highly automated recovery vehicle, support shuttle and communication components.