Chandran, KM and Ramamurthy, PC and Kanjo, K and Narayan, R and Menon, SR (2021) Efficacy of ultraviolet-C devices for the disinfection of personal protective equipment fabrics and N95 respirators. In: Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 126 .
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Abstract
Since the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a plethora of ultraviolet-C (UV-C) disinfection products have come to market, especially in emerging economies. UV-C-based disinfection products for mobile phones, food packaging, face masks and personal protective equipment (PPE), and other everyday objects are available in popular electronic-commerce platforms as consumer products. Product designers from multinational to startup companies began to design UV-C disinfection products but had no prior-art reference, user feedback, or validation of product efficacy, which are important stages in product design. A UV-C disinfection product cannot be assessed by most consumers for its viricidal efficacy. Many firms entered the domain of UV-C products and were unaware of the necessary validation requirements. Lack of availability and access to virology laboratories, due to lockdowns in countries, and lack of standards and certification for UV-C disinfection products limited product designers and firms in benchmarking their UV-C-based devices before market release. This work evaluates two UV-C disinfection devices for viricidal efficacy on PPE fabric and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-certified N95 respirators through controlled experiments using the H1N1 virus, which is enveloped and is transmitted via the respiratory route similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of COVID-19. The experiment also evaluated the effectiveness of chemical disinfectants along with and versus UV-C disinfection. Experiments for material selection, UV dose calculation, and UV endurance of PPE samples to be disinfected are also discussed. The outcome of this work establishes a systematic method to validate the efficacy of UV-C disinfection products. The design guidelines would benefit product designers in designing UV-C-based disinfection products. © 2021 National Institute of Standards and Technology. All rights reserved.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| Publisher: | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| Additional Information: | The copyright for this article belongs to the Authors. |
| Keywords: | Consumer products; Diseases; Disinfection; Fumigation; Mobile commerce; Occupational risks; Protective clothing; Respirators; Viruses, Chemical disinfectants; Controlled experiment; Emerging economies; Material selection; National institute for occupational safety and healths; Personal protective equipment; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus; Start-up companies, Product design |
| Department/Centre: | Division of Mechanical Sciences > Centre for Product Design & Manufacturing |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Feb 2023 04:24 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Feb 2023 04:24 |
| URI: | https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/80488 |
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