Wearable air cleaner with ultraviolet light disinfection

This invention is directed to a wearable air cleaner where an air cleaning device is incorporated into a hat. The air cleaning device includes a fan unit to pull air through the device and an air filter to capture particles in the air. The air cleaning device also includes ultraviolet light to disinfect the air and pushes the filtered and disinfected air in front of the wearer for breathing.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, there has been many outbreaks of infectious diseases around the World. The need for personal protection against infections has become ever more important. One effective way to protect against infectious diseases, especially those caused by airborne viruses, is by wearing a mask or respirator to lessen the chance of inhaling infectious agents.

A drawback of a mask or respirator is that the filtering mechanism is often not completely effective against all infectious agents, particularly viruses that have a very small cross section. Another drawback is that a mask or respirator with a filter that has meaningful effectiveness against small infectious agents often restricts airflow to such an extent that breathing by the wearer becomes difficult. Yet another drawback is that many people find wearing a mask to be uncomfortable and unrealistic for certain situations, such as when eating, drinking, talking, etc.

There is a need for a better way of personal protection against infectious diseases that balances effective protection and livability.

SUMMARY

This invention is directed to a wearable air cleaner where an air cleaning device is incorporated into a hat. The air cleaning device includes a fan unit to pull air through the device and an air filter to capture particles in the air. The air cleaning device also includes ultraviolet (UV) light to disinfect the air and pushes the filtered and disinfected air in front of the wearer for breathing. The use of UV light enables the air cleaning device to disinfect the air of small infectious agents, such as viruses, without relying solely on the air filter to do so. As a result, a coarser air filter with lower air resistance can be used, thereby enabling a more power efficient fan unit to be used while achieving the desired airflow.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This invention is directed to a wearable air cleaner for protecting a wearer against infectious agents in the air. The wearable air cleaner employs an air filter as well as UV light to disinfect the air of infectious agents.

FIG. 1shows one example of such wearable air cleaner as wearable air cleaner100in a perspective view. Wearable air cleaner100includes hat103and air cleaning device106.FIG. 1also shows face shield114that may optionally be installed on wearable air cleaner100for added protection against infectious agents in the air. In one embodiment, face shield114is configured with pivot mounts so that face shield114can be rotated upward and our of the way of the wearer without having to remove the face shield from wearable air cleaner100. Air cleaning device106is supported by brim108. Air enters air cleaning device106into an air filter through inlet117.

FIG. 2shows wearable air cleaner100in another perspective view. Wearable air cleaner100includes control button205for operating air cleaning device106. In this example, control button205is implemented as a simple, one button unit. Other implementations can be used, such as multiple buttons, toggle switch, slide switch, touch screen, and the like.

FIG. 3shows wearable air cleaner100in a see-through view with example components. Wearable air cleaner100includes air filter housing302that contains an air filter for filtering air entering through inlet117. Inlet117may be implemented as a removable cover for air filter housing302to facilitate air filter replacement. The air filter may be a single stage filter or a multi-stage filter.

Many different types of air filter for filtering airborne particles can be used. For example, air filter can be made of fabric, paper, foam and other suitable materials and their combinations. The performance of air filter can be of any suitable rating, such as National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) efficiency levels, High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) classes, Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) ratings, and the like. For example, the air filter may have a N95 NIOSH rating.

Wearable air cleaner100also includes fan unit317for pulling air into inlet117, through air cleaning device106and discharging the air through openings in brim108in front of the wearer of wearable air cleaner100. Air cleaning device106includes Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights306that emit UV light to disinfect air passing through air cleaning device106. In the preferred embodiment, LED lights306emit UV light with wavelength between 100-280 nm (UV-C light), which is particularly effective for killing infectious particles such as viruses.

Air cleaning device106includes power unit321to power fan unit317and LED lights306. Air cleaning device106also includes a controller that electrically connects to fan unit317and LED lights306. The controller can power on fan unit317and LED lights306individually or both at once by electrically connecting them to power unit321. The controller can also regulate the speed of fan unit317and the light intensity of LED lights306by varying the electricity going to fan unit317and LED lights306.

In one embodiment, the controller receives input from control button205when it is pushed. For example, the controller may power on both fan unit317and LED lights306at the same time. The controller may also power on fan unit317and LED lights306alternatively with successive pushing of control button205. The controller may vary the speed of fan unit317and the light intensity of LED lights306with successive pushing of control button205. Other embodiments include alternative ways for controller to receive input, such as through a remote control, wireless controlling mechanism such as through Bluetooth by another device like a wireless phone, and the like.

FIG. 4shows a top perspective of a cross-sectional view of wearable air cleaner100. The cross-sectional view shows the air passageway where air is pulled through air cleaning device106by fan unit317. As shown in the figure, air entered through inlet117and the air filter in air filter housing302into passageway401. The filtered air then entered chamber405that includes LED lights306where the air is disinfected by UV light. After passing through chamber405, the filtered and disinfected air then are drawn into entrance410of fan unit317and are pushed into a space under brim108. In one embodiment, volumetric air flow produced by the fan unit317is in a range of 10 cubic centimeter per second and 1000 cubic centimeter per second.

FIG. 5shows a side perspective of a cross-sectional view of air cleaning device106. In one embodiment, the height of chamber405is within a range of 0.1 centimeter to 10 centimeter. This range would enable the air passing through chamber405to be close enough to LED lights306to be exposed to sufficient intensity of UV light for disinfection purposes. In another embodiment, the ratio of width of chamber405to height is within a range of 0.1 and 10. In yet another embodiment, the dimension of air cleaning device106is configured to balance having sufficient air flow to offer protection to the wearer with having a flow speed that is slow enough to allow the air moving through chamber405to be disinfected by UV light. In still another embodiment, chamber405is lined with light-reflective materials, which can reflect the UV light within the chamber in multiple directions and multiple times to allow the UV light to reach the air in every part of chamber405and with more intensity.

FIG. 6shows a front perspective of a cross-sectional view of wearable air cleaner106. After passing air cleaning device100, the filtered and disinfected air are pushed into a space under brim108. This space is typically where the wearer's face is located. The pushed air creates a region of positive air pressure filled with air that is filtered and disinfected by air cleaning device106. The positive air pressure region protects the wearer by preventing surrounding air from being breathed in by the wearer. Wearable air cleaner100may include face shield114to further reinforced the positive air pressure region.

One aspect of the wearable air cleaner as described above is the use of both an air filter and UV light to provide clean air to the wearer. An advantage of this wearable air cleaner is that the use of UV light enables the air cleaning device to disinfect the air of small infectious agents, such as viruses, without relying solely on the air filter to do so. As a result, a coarser air filter with lower air resistance can be used, whereby enabling a more power efficient fan unit to be used while achieving the desired airflow. A more power efficient fan unit is advantageous for many reasons, such as lighter weight, the ability to use a smaller battery, longer running time with a given power source, more air flow with given fan capacity, and the like. For example, in order to effectively disinfect the air of viruses, such as COVID-19 virus, a filter of sufficient filtration effectiveness down to 0.1 microns would need to be used. This would require high filter effectiveness standards, such as NIOSH N99 and MERV 18. Such filters are expensive and very restrictive on airflow. With the wearable air cleaner described above, a filter of less filtration effectiveness can be used to filter particles up to bacterial size. The UV light of the wearable air cleaner would disinfect the viruses that passes through the filter, resulting in air disinfection result comparable or exceeding that of using a filter with significantly higher effectiveness.