Until vaccines ban the risk of Covid – 19, other measures must first of all prevent the pathogen SARS Keep the CoV-2 in check when shopping, traveling or in public spaces. In order to remove viruses from aerosols in indoor air, mobile filter systems are currently given a major role. Another, less invasive alternative are lamps that disinfect the air with UV-C rays.

In addition to Osram, Signify, the manufacturer of Philips Hue lights, currently one of the major lighting manufacturers, is advancing this solution. For this, the group offers matching wall and ceiling lights at a unit price of around 1 000 including service . They should be used in retail, offices, airports, hairdressing salons, schools or in the catering industry. Signify is demonstrating what this could look like in everyday life as part of a pilot project in an Edeka store in Hamburg.

Silent aerial combat at a height of three meters For this purpose, Edeka Clausen has in the approximately 1. 254 square meter sales room in the old freight yard in the Barmbek district 31 Signify lamps installed. The versions used contain a fluorescent tube with a power of up to 25 watts. It emits ultraviolet light with a radiation peak of 254 nanometers, i.e. close to the peak wavelength for a so-called germ-deactivating effect.

The UV lamps are at a height of 3 , 2 to 3.5 meters on pillars and walls.

(Image: Signify)

The UV-C rays convert the DNA, sometimes also the RNA, of the microorganisms and thereby render them harmless. Mounted on columns and walls at a height of 3.2 to 3.5 meters, the lamps disinfect the air flowing past in the upper area of ​​the room. A separate ventilation system is not necessary for this. Instead, the natural circulation should ensure that air rises there through the heat of the device, the air conditioning or customers and employees passing by. In addition to the lamps, a Signify UV-C box is used in which employees can disinfect items that are used jointly, such as hand scanners.

According to Signify, six seconds of irradiation are sufficient to eliminate 99 percent of the SARS-CoV-2 viruses . If they are exposed to UV-C light 25 seconds, this would lead to 99, 99999 percent, so almost completely. With these values, the lighting company refers to a study by the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) at Boston University. To do this, however, the researchers irradiated viruses with UV-C light that adhered to surfaces.

For this reason, Signify had to extrapolate the radiation dose required in the air for the lamp installation in the Edeka store. admits the group. Scientific confirmation that the conversion works is pending. “Investigations are also planned for this and we are confident that physics will not cheat us,” explained Christian Goebel, Sales Director Public for German-speaking countries at Signify.

Supplement for other hygiene measures Edeka Clausen doesn’t just do everything anyway on this card, but complements the usual hygiene measures that apply unchanged. “Of course we continue to wear mouth and nose protection, to name just one example. We see it as an accompanying technical measure for more safety,” said managing director Dirk-Uwe Clausen.

Employees were informed internally, customers were informed about the UV-C emitters through leaflets. Signify assures us that their use is harmless to humans or animal companions. Apart from the mounting height, a parabolic reflector and non-reflective lamellas in the lamps ensure that the rays are only scattered within the intended radius of action. Before, during and after installation, technicians measured that at the approximate eye level of an average adult of 1, 70 meters the radiation exposure remains below the limit value.

Dirk-Uwe Clausen decided to participate in the pilot project because he hopes for a positive multiplier effect. “As a father of two daughters, I would be happy if this solution also proves to be effective in other areas and sets a course.”

(dahe)