Gas separation: processes – Filtering
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-24
2004-08-24
Hopkins, Robert A. (Department: 1724)
Gas separation: processes
Filtering
C261S030000, C261S107000, C427S255250, C165S133000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06780224
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for anti-microbial and related treatments. An example of the application of the invention is two systems for treating air conditioning systems with anti-microbial agents. Aspects of the invention are also applicable to systems for treatment of other equipment with anti-microbial and other agents, including for example the use of deodorant compositions and the like.
It is well known that there is a long standing requirement for systems for treating air conditioning systems in order to reduce the occurrence of such conditions as sick building syndrome and the like. Many proposals have been made. To the best of the applicants' knowledge, no currently available system offers the combination of effective microbial control with at least moderate ease of use and an acceptable price.
One of the difficulties arising in the case of the treatment of air conditioning systems is that the hardware includes ducting and passages with heat exchange surfaces and other intricate structures which all need effective treatment in order to reduce the opportunity for microbial growth at times when conditions favour such growth. The use of simple systems for mechanical cleaning are rendered more or less impossible by the complexity of the structures and the inaccessibility of the interstices of the system.
An important aspect of the difficulties inherent in designing a system for effective treatment of air conditioning systems is the fact that many, if not all, microbial control reagents have the usage requirement attached to them that the user must not allow the reagent to become dispersed unacceptably within the breathable environment encountered by users of the building. In other words, the treatment system needs to be confined to the actual air treatment equipment itself so that the latter is clean and the microbial presence acceptably reduced while the remainder of the building is unaffected by the microbial treatment material in any direct way.
Accordingly, there is considerable difficulty in providing a system which is easy to use, cost-effective and does not contravene regulations relating to the use of microbial treatment agents.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With this requirement in mind, the embodiments of the present invention are based upon the discovery disclosed below, and there is provided according to the invention the method and apparatus defined in the accompanying claims.
In the embodiments of the invention described below there is provided a system in which provision is made for treatment of substantially the entire relevant air-contacting surfaces of the air conditioning equipment. Such treatment occurs over a significant period, for example from one to 24 hours, depending upon the parameters of the installed treatment element and on the extent of use of the air conditioning equipment. The treatment system is effective to limit the application of the microbial treatment material to just those relevant surfaces of the air conditioning plant. Moreover, this limitation of the treatment of the surfaces of the air conditioning plant alone, without affecting the remainder of the building, is effected by that equipment itself and without the need to instal any additional equipment to achieve this result.
Moreover, in the embodiments, the treatment process is effective for a defined period of time (dependent upon the factors mentioned above) and then ceases, substantially automatically, so that the operation is effective in a time-limited way and lends itself to repetitive use at suitably-chosen intervals in order to maintain a satisfactorily level of microbial removal.
In the embodiments of the invention the method and apparatus is based upon our discovery that the treatment of the relevant surfaces of the air conditioning plant and equipment can be effectively achieved by means of a system in which a biocide material is provided and is made available in association with a carrier medium, for example water, but other fluids may be feasible for certain applications, and the biocide or microbial treatment material is entrained from an air treatment element so as to be carried in the air and air stream entering the air conditioning plant and is thus dispersed by the air flow-producing systems (for example a fan), so as to become reasonably uniformly distributed around the entire air-flow paths of the apparatus.
Thus, in this way, the entrained biocide material and its carrier medium, for example water droplets, are dispersed around the system and thus are available for treatment of all the relevant hardware surfaces.
In accordance with another important aspect of the present invention, the system furthermore operates in accordance with the following. After the entrainment of the microbial treatment material and its dispersal with the entrainment medium and the air currents around the system, there is provided the means for effectively removing the treatment medium for the air, and this provided by the refrigerated or cooled surfaces of the air conditioning plant. Thus, the air conditioning plant itself serves to remove the biocide or microbial treatment medium from the air flow around the hardware, and it does this by effectively condensing the carrier medium, usually water, so that its associated biocide material is likewise condensed on the relevant cooled surfaces. Effectively, this means that all such surfaces become coated with droplets of water vapour containing or carrying the biocide material with the result that all such surfaces are very effectively treated with the biocide.
Thus, in the embodiments of the invention, the system utilises symbiotically and beneficially, purely the existing hardware apparatus of the air conditioning plant firstly to cause the biocide material to be entrained with its carrier medium into the air flow and thus to be widely dispersed, and secondly the air conditioning plant is caused to remove the entrained treatment material and carrier medium for a condensation step.
Accordingly, it can now be seen that the system of the present invention makes effective and convenient use of existing hardware systems and employs these to achieve not only effective dispersal of relatively small quantities of biocide material about the system, but also achieves likewise the effective removal of the treatment material or medium from the system by a condensation step. In this way, the embodiments of the present invention are able to achieve the indicated requirements of such a system, without the need to employ any additional hardware and by means which involves the employment merely of air treatment elements comprising sachets of the treatment medium and the carrier medium.
It will be understood that the embodiments of the invention do rely on the use of a carrier medium for the biocide material which is capable of being removed by condensation at the temperature occurring in the relevant surfaces of the air conditioning hardware. In most cases the carrier medium will be water. Care also needs to be exercised in order to ensure that the air conditioning plant is arranged to operate the air flow-producing fan, which causes entrainment of the biocide material, with the carrier medium, only when the air conditioning plant is operating and the refrigerated surfaces, which effect condensation of the biocide and carrier medium, are at their relevant refrigeration temperatures.
In other embodiments of the invention, the air treatment elements may be used in alternative systems in which the combination of a biocide or microbial treatment material and a carrier medium are also of benefit. For example, there may be provided light weight air conditioning or air treatment apparatus for use in relation to transport boxes for placement in lorries and trucks. Such equipment employs the air treatment elements described above in relation to air conditioning plant, in combination with an air dispersal system not incorporating any refrigerated surfaces as such.
Such an arrangement is of utility and convenience
Banham Harry
Webber David
Goldberg Richard M.
Hopkins Robert A.
Universal Master Products Limited
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