Design of optical cavity for air sanification through ultraviolet germicidal irradiation

The transmission of airborne pathogens represents a major issue to worldwide public health. Ultraviolet light irradiation can contribute to the sanification of air to reduce the pathogen transmission. This study concerns the design of a compact filter for airborne pathogen inactivation by means of UV-C LED sources, whose effective irradiance is enhanced thanks to high reflective surfaces. Ray-tracing and computational fluid dynamic simulations are both used to model the device and to maximize the performance inside the filter volume. Simulations foresee the inhibition of SARS-Cov 2 also in the case of high air fluxes. This study demonstrates that current available LED technology is effective for air sanification purposes.