Patent ID: 8709341

Claim:
A method of manufacturing one or more photocatalytically active elements for use in a germicidal irradiation system, the one or more active elements forming a sealed flow path for passing pre-filtered air through the one or more photocatalytically active elements and thereafter through a UV-irradiated core cavity defined by the one or more elements, the core cavity having a sealed top end and an open bottom end for discharging treated air therefrom, the method of manufacturing each photocatalytically active element comprising: providing a plurality of tangled, non-oriented quartz fibers, each fiber having a fiber diameter equal to or less than about 9 microns, for forming a medium conductive of and transparent to UV radiation; supporting the medium by sandwiching the medium within mesh into a planar frame, the medium having a flow path therethrough from a UV core cavity side and a sufficient thickness of the medium to provide for near complete extinction of the UV radiation therethrough without restricting air flow; submerging the frame, mesh and medium in a solution containing non-photocatalytically active material for coating the non-oriented fibers in the medium; and calcining the coated medium while supported in the frame and mesh for converting the non-photocatalytically active material to an active photocatalyst bound to and coating the non-oriented fibers in the medium for forming each photocatalytically active element.