-Week 3-

This week our team focused on designing new models to get a good idea on how the final product will look and operate.

Progress Made This Week

Stafford was able to draw up a very good design idea to start off this idea brainstorm. The idea is that there is a box in which the UV light is contained in with light bars along the top and bottom of the box. The box is big enough to contain multiple masks at a time for quantity; and the UV light bars located at the top and bottom of the box are enough to kill the coronavirus relatively quickly for our quality. However, our group is still exploring new ideas and modifications to the current model. In one of the team meetings we came together with our individual designs and discuss what our designs were focusing on. Here are some sketches that the team has come up with. These were more for conceptualize ideas, just to think of the general design and what each individual thought would be important when it came to the acutal product. There are no definite picks or measurements this week, just trying to get a feel for the invention. We would have to look at the dimensions and material once we chosse a idea we can focus on.






Goals for Next Week

  • We want to have a solidified design concept and focus next on what materials and cost will look like.
  • Look into viable options for the UV lights and the best dimensions to fully optimize the device.
  • Look into prototypes if possible.
  • Robert will have completed the Week 4 blog post.

Areas of Concern

Mercury products are being phased out in 2020 in accordance with the UN Minamata Convention on Mercury. This convention has been ratified by the United States but has an exemption for fluorescent lights that include mercury where the use has no comparable alternative option. It seems that while the UVc LED's are capable of serving this need, they do have less power output than the fluorescent mercury lamps. Is this a situation where we should feel free to design with mercury based lamps until industry standards change, or design our project with UVc LED's even if it comes with a higher cost?