UV’s Role in the Fight Against Contagious Viruses

 

Tim Barton, Director of Air Treatment and Product Management for Field Controls, has been thinking about it for a long time. Barton can give a thumbnail history of purification and filtration techniques from the 1950s to today; however, the COVID-19 virus is something unlike anything we’ve faced on a societal level.

Even so, Barton is confident that ultraviolet germicidal irradiation can have a role to play in keeping buildings safe once people are back in them.

“It has been proven that the energy that we have, and (have) tested, that Ultraviolet C energy, is very effective with viruses and coronaviruses, but we just don’t have the actual data of how much dosage of ultraviolet wavelength light is required to affect and slow the COVID-19, specifically,” he said. “That’ll be coming. We have mathematical estimates, so we know anecdotally we can be effective with that, but we can’t say within absolute that this is the pinpoint dosage required.”

Even before the pandemic, Barton and his team were looking to create the top solutions for people wanting their residences or businesses to have an improved indoor environment.

“Our lamps at Field Controls are found residentially to be the most potent, high-output, intense UVC germicidal lamps you can find,” Barton said. “And why is that important? It’s important because we want to capture the contamination that’s in your air, from a germicidal standpoint, viral, bacterial and so on.”

In essence, Barton and Field Controls think about the air around you so you don’t have to, and they may play a part in making life that much more comfortable for us to return to post-pandemic.

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