Patent ID: 7291846

Claim:
Apparatus for treating a volume of fluid, said apparatus comprising: a fluid passageway through which the fluid flows; at least one source of irradiation, external to said fluid passageway; at least two reflecting troughs, each trough having a curved cross section, with a closed end, top and bottom edges, and an open end, the open end of each trough having first and second end edges, the open end of said first trough facing the open end of said second trough to define a space between the closed ends of said troughs, the top edges of said first and second troughs defining a first plane, and the bottom edges of said first and second troughs defining a second plane; a first set of reflectors joining the end edges of said first trough to the end edges of said second trough, each reflector of said first set of reflectors having a top edge lying substantially in the first plane and a bottom edge lying substantially in the second plane; and a second set of reflectors joining the top edges of said troughs and of said first set of reflectors and joining the bottom edges of said troughs and of said first set of reflectors, said second set of reflectors cooperating with said troughs and said first set of reflectors to define a substantially enclosed chamber having said at least one source of irradiation therein and having said fluid passageway passing therethrough, wherein: each source of irradiation is within a respective one of said troughs, and at least one of said fluid passageway and said at least one source of irradiation is spaced from all focal axes of said troughs so as to provide a substantially uniform irradiation distribution within the fluid in said fluid passageway, wherein each trough has a longitudinal axis, and wherein each reflector of said first set of reflectors is segmented and comprises: a first flat reflector segment extending from a first one of said troughs at an angle to the longitudinal axis of such trough; and a second flat reflector segment extending from a second one of said troughs at an angle to the longitudinal axis of that trough and cooperating with said first flat reflector segment to define a V substantially midway between said troughs.