Patent ID: 9687577
Date: 2017-06-27
CPC Classifications: A43B,A61L

Claim:
1. An ultraviolet (UV) footwear illuminator, comprising: an insert adapted for placement in an article of footwear; at least one UV radiation source located in the insert configured to emit UV radiation in the footwear through a transparent window region formed in the insert; a wave guiding structure located in the insert, wherein the wave guiding structure is configured to distribute the UV radiation from the at least one UV radiation source to a plurality of locations within the footwear, wherein the wave guiding structure comprises a multilayer structure having at least one UV transparent fluoropolymer layer disposed between a pair of segmented liquid layers, a plurality of diffusive protrusions disposed in at least one of the liquid layers, and an encapsulation layer that encapsulates the at least one UV transparent fluoropolymer layer, the pair of liquid layers and the plurality of diffusive protrusions; a control unit configured to control at least one of a plurality of predetermined UV radiation characteristics associated with the radiation emitted from the at least one UV radiation source; and a power supply configured to power the at least one UV radiation source and the control unit.