A Simple Method for Evaluating the Performance of Louvered Fixtures Designed for Upper-Room Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe primary objective of the present work was to develop and validate a simple method for measuring the ultraviolet (UV) emission rate of louvered UV fixtures designed for upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI). A secondary objective was to compare the emission rates and energy usage of a few commercially available fixtures and explain the reasons for the differences observed. The ultraviolet emission rate of fixtures designed for upper-room UVGI is clearly an important metric for specifying the UV dosing requirements for a particular application—that is, determining how many UV fixtures should be installed in a given room. UV emission rate is also important for evaluating how efficiently the fixture utilizes the required electrical power input. The ratio of the UV emission rate to the electrical input is a useful parameter for ranking or improving fixtures. In this article, we describe “UV sensor traverse” and its validation. UV sensor traverse is a simple method for measuring UV emission rate by traversing the louvered face of a fixture with a UV sensor. Using this method, we show that a commercially available fixture with a cylindrical parabolic reflector with a tubular lamp has about 84% of the UV radiation exiting the fixture emitted from the back of the lamp, compared to only 21% for a fixture with a flat reflector and compact lamps. The energy-use efficiency of the former fixture is about five times greater than that of the latter fixture. In the fixture with the parabolic reflector, UV rays are redirected by the reflector so that they tend to be parallel to the louvers, allowing significantly more of the UV radiation emitted from the back of the lamp to exit the fixture than a fixture with a flat reflector, which simply alters the direction of the UV rays. To conserve energy and minimize the number of louvered UV fixtures required, well-designed parabolic reflectors are essential.