ANTIMICROBIAL LIGHTING SYSTEM

• US 20150164067A1
• Filed: 12/12/2013
• Published: 06/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Current Lighting Solutions, LLC (f/k/a GE Lighting Solutions, LLC) (American Industrial Partners)
• Original Assignee: GE Lighting Solutions LLC (Savant Systems, LLC)
• Inventors: Cai, Dengke, Magnan, Sebastien, Wong, Angela, Bugenske, Matthew A., Turgeon, Francois, Richard, Jean-Francois
• Granted Patent: US 9,642,358 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 25/08 containing solids as carriers or diluents
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 25/10 Macromolecular compounds
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 25/34 Shaped forms, e.g. sheets, not provided for in any other sub-group of this main group
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 31/16 with two or more oxygen or sulfur atoms directly attached to the same aromatic ring system
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 33/12 Quaternary ammonium compounds
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 59/16 Heavy metals; Compounds thereof
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 59/20 Copper

Abstract

Provided is a system enhancing control of bacterial growth by combining antimicrobial additives and surface micro-structure patterns on outer surfaces of a device, such as a lighting fixture. The system physically decreases bio-adhesion between microbes and substrates applied to the outer surfaces. The system combines a surface micro-structured component with an antimicrobial component to generate a single component.

Claims

1. A lighting system comprising:

a light fixture;

an outer component of the light fixture configured to be exposed to air; and

an antimicrobial additive is applied to the outer component of the light fixture to provide an antimicrobial blended outer component to control growth of microbes onto the outer component of the light fixture.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the applying includes at least one of blending and coating onto the component outer surfaces with or without binder of the light fixture;

and

wherein the outer component is selected from the group consisting of paints, plastic, and coatings.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the antimicrobial additive includes at least one of zeolite and glass with silver (Ag), copper or zinc ion, tricolsan, and a quaternary component.

4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a nano/micro-sized pattern transferred onto surfaces of the antimicrobial blended outer component to mitigate bio-adhesion between the microbes and the outer component of the light fixture.

5. The system according to claim 4, further comprising an additional hydrophobic layer on the outer component surface increasing bio-adhesion between microbes and the outer component of the light fixture.

6. The system according to claim 5, hydrophobic layer is formed from at least one of (i) an additional hydrophobic coating including a fluoro type silane and (ii) the outer component itself, from at least one of a fluoropolymer PTFE and an ETFE.

7. The system according to claim 4, wherein the nano/micro-sized pattern is a symmetric pattern.

8. The system according to claim 4, wherein the nano/micro-sized pattern is an asymmetric pattern.

9. The system according to claim 6, wherein a scatter including at least one of TiO2 and antimicrobial additive particles is added to the outer component when the nano/micro-sized pattern is asymmetric to minimize the light interference effects.

10. The system according to claim 2, wherein the nano/micro-sized pattern has a feature size and space between adjacent features in the range of 100 nm to 100 μ

m.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the light fixture comprises at least one of a light emitting diode (LED) and an organic light emitting diodes (OLED) as a light source.

12. A method of use of a lighting system, comprising:

providing an outer component of a light fixture configured to be exposed to air;

applying an antimicrobial additive onto the outer component of the light fixture to provide an antimicrobial outer component; and

controlling growth of microbes onto the outer component of the light fixture.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the outer component is selected from the group consisting of paints, plastic, and coatings (with or without binders).

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the antimicrobial additive comprises at least one of carriers including zeolite and glass with silver (Ag), copper or zinc ion, tricolsan, and a quaternary component.

15. The method according to claim 12, further comprising transferring a nano/micro-sized pattern onto surfaces of the antimicrobial blended outer component to mitigate bio-adhesion between the microbes and the outer component of the light fixture.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the nano/micro-sized pattern is a symmetric pattern.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the nano/micro-sized pattern is an asymmetric pattern.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising adding a scatter to the outer component when the nano/micro-sized pattern is asymmetric to minimize the light interference effects.