Building Management Systems Look to Smart Lighting & LED-based Disinfection
In the field of building management, consulting engineers are facing the same challenge that every sector is at the moment – how to stop the spread of COVID-19. The pandemic has hit industry and commerce hard and so it falls to building design professionals to look for solutions that will allow the world to return to a semblance of normality.
A technology that has been shown to provide effective infection control is smart lighting and more specifically, lighting disinfection technology. Dubbed as a Smart UV Solution, the technology uses ultraviolet to disinfect surfaces by killing viruses and bacteria that live there.
UV Light Kills 99.9% of Airborne Bacteria
The use of high impact UVA & UVC lighting is being seen as a potent weapon against Coronavirus by building services design consultants as it not only kills bacteria on surfaces but it is also known to eliminate almost 100% of airborne bacteria when it’s exposed directly. The choice of either UVA or UVC depends very much on where it is used.
As is widely-known, UV light is harmful to both the skin and eyes, so M & E consulting engineers tend to use the technology in areas that are largely closed off from access, like in sterile rooms and hospital isolation areas. That said, solutions also exist for application in spaces that are continuously occupied. Leveraging a safe blend of violet light and anti-microbial white light is possible where 80% of airborne bacteria could be killed in areas where people frequently work.
In addition to this, other areas of interest is where ultraviolet light (UVC) is being looked at as a way to eliminate pathogens such as measles, MRSA and of course COVID-19 as part of their scheduled cleaning. UV light can even be used to disinfect N95 masks for reuse. It would appear that there are numerous applications for smart lighting and as the technology develops, these are worth keeping a close eye on.
Technological Solutions for a Safer Working Environment
Smart lighting is just one of the ways in which building designer can begin to look at ways to try to minimise the devastating effect that coronavirus is having on commerce across the world. At Varming Consulting Engineers Ireland, we use all available technologies to ensure the best possible results for our client projects.
If you would like to know more about what we do or about anything discussed here, visit us online at www.varming.ie or call us on (0)1 4872300 and our friendly experts will help you in any way they can. Thanks for reading. We’ll be back again soon with more from the home of intelligent building design soon.
