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Development and Demonstration of a Wireless Ultraviolet Sensing Network for Dose Monitoring and Operator Safety in Room Disinfection Applications

The use of mobile ultraviolet-C (UV-C) disinfection devices for the decontamination of surfaces in hospitals and other settings has increased dramatically in recent years. The efficacy of these devices relies on the UV-C dose they deliver to surfaces. This dose is dependent on the room layout, the s...

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Autores principales: Cullinan, Michael F., Scott, Robert, Linogao, Joe, Bradwell, Hannah, Cooper, Leonie, McGinn, Conor
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10007517/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36904695
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23052493
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author Cullinan, Michael F.
Scott, Robert
Linogao, Joe
Bradwell, Hannah
Cooper, Leonie
McGinn, Conor
author_facet Cullinan, Michael F.
Scott, Robert
Linogao, Joe
Bradwell, Hannah
Cooper, Leonie
McGinn, Conor
author_sort Cullinan, Michael F.
collection PubMed
description The use of mobile ultraviolet-C (UV-C) disinfection devices for the decontamination of surfaces in hospitals and other settings has increased dramatically in recent years. The efficacy of these devices relies on the UV-C dose they deliver to surfaces. This dose is dependent on the room layout, the shadowing, the position of the UV-C source, lamp degradation, humidity and other factors, making it challenging to estimate. Furthermore, since UV-C exposure is regulated, personnel in the room must not be exposed to UV-C doses beyond occupational limits. We proposed a systematic method to monitor the UV-C dose administered to surfaces during a robotic disinfection procedure. This was achieved using a distributed network of wireless UV-C sensors that provide real-time measurements to a robotic platform and operator. These sensors were validated for their linearity and cosine response. To ensure operators could safely remain in the area, a wearable sensor was incorporated to monitor the UV-C exposure of an operator, and it provided an audible warning upon exposure and, if necessary, ceased the UV-C emission from the robot. Enhanced disinfection procedures could then be conducted as items in the room could be rearranged during the procedure to maximise the UV-C fluence delivered to otherwise inaccessible surfaces while allowing UVC disinfection to occur in parallel with traditional cleaning. The system was tested for the terminal disinfection of a hospital ward. During the procedure, the robot was manually positioned in the room by the operator repeatedly, who then used feedback from the sensors to ensure the desired UV-C dose was achieved while also conducting other cleaning tasks. An analysis verified the practicality of this disinfection methodology while highlighting factors which could affect its adoption.
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spelling pubmed-100075172023-03-12 Development and Demonstration of a Wireless Ultraviolet Sensing Network for Dose Monitoring and Operator Safety in Room Disinfection Applications Cullinan, Michael F. Scott, Robert Linogao, Joe Bradwell, Hannah Cooper, Leonie McGinn, Conor Sensors (Basel) Article The use of mobile ultraviolet-C (UV-C) disinfection devices for the decontamination of surfaces in hospitals and other settings has increased dramatically in recent years. The efficacy of these devices relies on the UV-C dose they deliver to surfaces. This dose is dependent on the room layout, the shadowing, the position of the UV-C source, lamp degradation, humidity and other factors, making it challenging to estimate. Furthermore, since UV-C exposure is regulated, personnel in the room must not be exposed to UV-C doses beyond occupational limits. We proposed a systematic method to monitor the UV-C dose administered to surfaces during a robotic disinfection procedure. This was achieved using a distributed network of wireless UV-C sensors that provide real-time measurements to a robotic platform and operator. These sensors were validated for their linearity and cosine response. To ensure operators could safely remain in the area, a wearable sensor was incorporated to monitor the UV-C exposure of an operator, and it provided an audible warning upon exposure and, if necessary, ceased the UV-C emission from the robot. Enhanced disinfection procedures could then be conducted as items in the room could be rearranged during the procedure to maximise the UV-C fluence delivered to otherwise inaccessible surfaces while allowing UVC disinfection to occur in parallel with traditional cleaning. The system was tested for the terminal disinfection of a hospital ward. During the procedure, the robot was manually positioned in the room by the operator repeatedly, who then used feedback from the sensors to ensure the desired UV-C dose was achieved while also conducting other cleaning tasks. An analysis verified the practicality of this disinfection methodology while highlighting factors which could affect its adoption. MDPI 2023-02-23 /pmc/articles/PMC10007517/ /pubmed/36904695 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23052493 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Cullinan, Michael F.
Scott, Robert
Linogao, Joe
Bradwell, Hannah
Cooper, Leonie
McGinn, Conor
Development and Demonstration of a Wireless Ultraviolet Sensing Network for Dose Monitoring and Operator Safety in Room Disinfection Applications
title Development and Demonstration of a Wireless Ultraviolet Sensing Network for Dose Monitoring and Operator Safety in Room Disinfection Applications
title_full Development and Demonstration of a Wireless Ultraviolet Sensing Network for Dose Monitoring and Operator Safety in Room Disinfection Applications
title_fullStr Development and Demonstration of a Wireless Ultraviolet Sensing Network for Dose Monitoring and Operator Safety in Room Disinfection Applications
title_full_unstemmed Development and Demonstration of a Wireless Ultraviolet Sensing Network for Dose Monitoring and Operator Safety in Room Disinfection Applications
title_short Development and Demonstration of a Wireless Ultraviolet Sensing Network for Dose Monitoring and Operator Safety in Room Disinfection Applications
title_sort development and demonstration of a wireless ultraviolet sensing network for dose monitoring and operator safety in room disinfection applications
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10007517/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36904695
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23052493
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