Study on the effectiveness of the sanitization activity of a robot equipped with UV lamps

Abstract

The increasing focus on the health of individuals has forced a strong acceleration on research and development of new technologies to abate the microbiological component. The pandemic generated by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has imparted an even greater impetus in this direction. In large and busy environments, it is essential to implement existing air purification and surface cleaning techniques, to reduce the concentrations of microorganisms present as much as possible: for the abatement of airborne bacterial loads, physical methods (e.g., HEPA filters) are used, while, for surfaces, chemicals of different compositions (detergents and bactericides) are often used. The use of ultraviolet radiation is proving to be a very viable alternative for this purpose. The use of UV lamps coupled with automated systems allow constant service to prevent the spread of microbiological populations. The study reported here aims to verify the features of the bactericidal action produced by the ARIS-K2 robot. This specific machine is equipped with 6 UV-C mercury lamps, which emit electromagnetic radiation at a wavelength value of 253.7 nm. Ultraviolet light is divided into three categories, depending on the wavelength: UV-A (315-400 nm), UV-B (280-315 nm) and UV-C (100-280 nm). UV-C radiation is demonstrated to have the greatest microbicidal effect. The conducted study analyzes the survival of bacterial populations distributed on surfaces at varying distances from the robot and in the presence of obstacles. The results were also analyzed considering the dose-exposure time relationship to which the colonies were subjected.