Systems which Determine Operating Parameters and Disinfection Schedules for Germicidal Devices and Germicidal Lamp Apparatuses Including Lens Systems

• US 20130330235A1
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xenex Disinfection Services, LLC.
• Original Assignee: Xenex Healthcare Services, LLC
• Inventors: Stibich, Mark A., Carpenter, P. Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 9,744,255 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 422/105
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/06 Hot gas
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/07 Steam
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/10 Ultraviolet radiation
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/14 Plasma, i.e. ionised gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/20 Gaseous substances, e.g. vapours
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/22 Phase substances, e.g. smokes, aerosols or sprayed or atomised substances
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/24 Apparatus using programmed or automatic operation
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2202/14 Means for controlling sterilisation processes, data processing, presentation and storage means, e.g. sensors, controllers, programs
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2202/16 Mobile applications, e.g. portable devices, trailers, devices mounted on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2202/25 Rooms in buildings, passenger compartments
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

Systems are disclosed which include processor-executable program instructions for receiving data regarding characteristics of a room in which one or more disinfection sources are arranged and determining, based on the received data, individual operating parameter/s for the one or more disinfection sources. Other systems are provided which include processor-executable program instructions for discerning, for each of a plurality of disinfection sources, a target location, region, object or surface within a room in which the disinfection sources are arranged. The systems further include program instructions for comparing the target locations/regions/objects/surfaces and executing corrective actions upon detecting two or more locations/objects/surfaces are within a predetermined distance of each other and/or upon detecting two or more regions overlap.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

multiple disinfection sources; and

a processing subsystem comprising one or more processors and program instructions executable by the one or more processors for;

receiving data regarding the characteristics of a room in which the multiple disinfection sources are arranged; and

determining, based on the data, one or more individual operating parameters for the multiple disinfection sources.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more individual operating parameters comprise run times of the disinfection sources, positions of the disinfection sources within the room, orientation of components comprising the disinfection sources, rates of germicidal discharge from the disinfection sources and/or power supplied to the disinfection sources.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the disinfection sources comprise pulsed disinfection sources, and wherein the one or more individual operating parameters comprise pulse duration of the disinfection sources and/or pulse frequency of the disinfection sources.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions for determining one or more individual operating parameters for the multiple disinfection sources comprise program instructions for:

identifying, based on the data, a target location or region within the room for each of the multiple disinfection sources; and

determining, for each of the multiple disinfection sources, one or more individual operating parameters which are specific to disinfecting their target location or region.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the multiple disinfection sources are disposed on distinct apparatuses, wherein the processing subsystem is at least partially distributed among the distinct apparatuses such that at least one of the distinct apparatuses comprises one of the one or more processors and program instructions executable by the one processor for sending information regarding a target location, region, object or surface of a disinfection source comprising the at least one distinct apparatus, and wherein the at least another of the distinct apparatuses comprises another processor of the one or more processors and program instructions executable by the another processor for:

receiving the information;

comparing the received information with a target location, region, object or surface of a disinfection source comprising the at least another distinct apparatus; and

altering one or more operating parameters of its disinfection source when the compared target locations, regions, objects or surfaces are within a predetermined distance of each other.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing subsystem comprises program instructions which are executable by the one or more processors for determining a schedule of individual operating parameters for the multiple disinfection sources based on characteristics of the room.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the room comprise locations of furniture and/or equipment in the room, and wherein the program instructions for determining the one or more individual operating parameters for the multiple disinfection sources comprises tailoring the one or more individual operating parameters to primarily disinfect surfaces of the furniture and/or the equipment versus surfaces of the floor, walls and ceiling of the room.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the disinfection sources are fixedly arranged with the room.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the disinfection sources is portable.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the multiple disinfection sources comprise liquid, gas, vapor, plasma, ultraviolet light, and/or high-intensity narrow-spectrum (HINS) light disinfection sources.

21. The system of claim 10, wherein the physical attributes of the room comprise locations of furniture and/or equipment in the room, and wherein the program instructions for determining the location within the room to position the disinfection source and/or the orientation of a component comprising the disinfection source are based on prioritizing surfaces of the furniture and/or the equipment versus surfaces of the floor, walls and ceiling of the room.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the program instructions for determining the location within the room to position the disinfection source and/or the orientation of a component comprising the disinfection source are based on prioritizing surfaces of the furniture and/or the equipment which are in a region of the room between approximately 2 feet and approximately 4 feet from the floor of the room.

11. A system, comprising:

a disinfection source; and

a processing subsystem comprising a processor and program instructions executable by the processor for;

receiving data regarding physical attributes of a room in which the disinfection source is arranged; and

determining, based on the data, a location within the room to position the disinfection source and/or an orientation of a component comprising the disinfection source.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the program instructions for determining the location within the room and/or the orientation of a component is further for determining, based on the data, a schedule of locations within the room to position the disinfection source and/or a schedule of orientations of one or more components comprising the disinfection source.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the disinfection source is an ultraviolet light disinfection source, and wherein a component comprising the ultraviolet light disinfection source is a repositionable reflector.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the disinfection source is configured to move itself and/or move one or more of its components, and wherein the processing subsystem further comprises program instructions executable by the processor for sending information to the disinfection source to position itself to the determined location and/or arrange the component in the determined orientation.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising a sensor for generating the data regarding the physical attributes of the room.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the program instructions for receiving the data comprise program instructions for accessing a database comprising the data.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing subsystem comprises further program instructions which are executable by the processor for identifying objects within the room based on the data and assigning a priority number to each of the identified objects according to a predefined association of objects and priority numbers.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing subsystem comprises program instructions which are executable by the processor for determining one or more germicidal dosing parameters for the disinfection source based on characteristics of the room.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more germicidal dosing parameters comprise a run time of the disinfection source, a rate of germicidal discharge from the disinfection source and/or power supplied to the disinfection source.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the disinfection source is a pulsed disinfection source, and wherein the one or more germicidal dosing parameters comprise pulse duration of the disinfection source and/or pulse frequency of the disinfection source.

23. The system of claim 11, wherein the data comprises priority rankings assigned to surfaces within the room, and wherein the program instructions for determining the location within the room to position the disinfection source and/or the orientation of a component comprising the disinfection source are based on prioritizing surfaces having the highest priority rankings.

24. The system of claim 11, wherein the disinfection source is one of a plurality disinfection sources comprising the system, and wherein the program instructions for determining the location within the room to position the disinfection source and/or the orientation of a component comprising the disinfection source comprise program instructions for determining locations within the room to position each of the plurality of disinfection sources and/or orientation of one or more components of the plurality of disinfection sources.

25. The system of claim 11, wherein the disinfection source comprises a liquid, gas, vapor, plasma, ultraviolet light, and/or high-intensity narrow-spectrum (HINS) light disinfection source.

26. A system, comprising:

multiple disinfection sources; and

a processing subsystem comprising one or more processors and program instructions executable by the one or more processors for;

discerning, for each of the multiple disinfection sources, a target location, region, object or surface within a room in which the multiple disinfection sources are arranged;

comparing two or more of the target locations, regions, objects and/or surfaces; and

executing one or more corrective actions to change a planned disinfection process of at least one of the multiple disinfection sources upon detecting two or more target locations, objects and/or surfaces are within a predetermined distance of each other and/or upon detecting two or more target regions overlap.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the one or more correction actions comprise identifying a different target location, region, object or surface of the room for at least one of the disinfection sources corresponding to the two or more detected target locations, regions, objects, and/or surfaces.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the one or more correction actions comprise altering an operating parameter of at least one of the disinfection sources corresponding to the two or more detected target locations, regions, objects, and/or surfaces.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein each of the multiple disinfection sources comprises a sensor for generating data regarding physical attributes of the room.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein the processing subsystem further comprises program instructions for determining one or more individual operating parameters for the multiple disinfection sources.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the processing subsystem further comprises program instructions for comparing one or more individual operating parameters for the disinfection sources corresponding to the two or more detected target locations, regions, objects and/or surfaces, wherein the compared one or more individual operating parameters factor in on the steps of identifying a different target location, region, object, or surface of the room and altering an operating parameter of at least one the disinfection sources.

32. The system of claim 26, wherein the multiple disinfection sources comprise liquid, gas, vapor, plasma, ultraviolet light, and/or high-intensity narrow-spectrum (HINS) light disinfection sources.

33. A room disinfection apparatus, comprising:

a germicidal lamp;

a power circuit for operating the germicidal lamp; and

a non-laser lens system configured to converge or diverge light emitted from the germicidal lamp to a region of a room in which the room disinfection apparatus is arranged.

34. The room disinfection apparatus of claim 33, wherein the non-laser lens systems comprises one or more lenses encircling the germicidal lamp.

35. The room disinfection apparatus of claim 33, wherein the non-laser lens systems comprises one or more lenses which do not encircle the germicidal lamp.

36. The room disinfection apparatus of claim 33, wherein the lens system comprises one or more lenses which are repositionable within the room disinfection apparatus.

37. The room disinfection apparatus of claim 36, wherein the apparatus is configured to move one or more of the repositionable lenses while the apparatus is in operation.

38. The room disinfection apparatus of claim 36, further comprising:

a system for collecting data regarding characteristics of the room in which the apparatus is arranged; and

a controller for retrieving the data, determining a position for a lens of the lens systems based on the data, and sending a command in accordance with the determined position to a means for automatically moving the lens.

39. The room disinfection apparatus of claim 38, wherein the lens systems includes multiple lenses, and wherein the controller determines a position for each of the multiple lenses based on the data and sends commands in accordance with the determined positions to one or more means for automatically moving the multiple lenses.

40. The room disinfection apparatus of claim 33, further comprising a reflector system configured to redirect light emitted from the germicidal lamp to the region of the room.