With all data collected from life support systems offered by NASA and ESA, scientific articles and open studies about COVID-19 we have developed a device aiming the purification and sterilization of air in indoor environments, that can be used both on earth or with the ISS system. Therefore, we can provide a reestablishment of the usual activities in a safe way, affecting positively the economy and health of the population. It can be also used in space travels or space stations to ensure the traveler’s safety.
Making an analysis of people's behavior and about the economies that are easing the social isolation, the team has thought of using our knowledge in mechatronic projects to develop a device that can give security to people's health in daily life activities. In that way, NASA challenge showed us an opportunity to catalyze ideas from information and orientation given by the event. The team has selected the theme of air purification and was dedicated to understand better all the solutions of life support in spaceships. The result was the synthesis of a system that can eliminate viruses, bacterias, organic gases, organic and inorganic particles to be utilized in closed environments, as shopping centers and retailers, where there is more impact recovering the economic activities and preserving jobs and the health of all.
The process of development of our device was intense, because the team has been divided to search for more scientific information about all the air purifiers already existing and at the same time writing a text with arguments based on data to make our pitch. During the process of brainstorming, a lot of ideias have come through, but only after a deep reading about the efficiency of all the systems and technologies available that we could select our path to build our own device.
The proposed equipment is composed of chemical and physical filters associated with a refrigeration or ventilation system. The physical filtering is done by an HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance) and chemical filtering by a photocatalyst made of titanium dioxide with graphene oxide activated by ultraviolet light. HEPA is responsible for organic and inorganic particulate containment while photocatalysts break organic molecules that pass the first filter. Furthermore, UV-C radiation emitted by lamps is fundamental to inactivate viruses and bacteria by breaking organic molecule bonds, like DNA, RNA and proteins. The prototype will be developed to validate purification efficiency from combined TRL 9 technologies already used on other equipment.
The team has also aimed in guaranteeing that the device will be easy to install and low cost maintenance and acquisition to attend small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) that have been most affected by the present pandemic. Our team believes that our equipment will require periodic maintenance in between one and a half and two years to ensure air quality. This information will be more precise as we develop and test our prototype, always aiming to achieve reliable scientific data. We are going to certify air quality provided by our system measuring particulate, pollutants, viruses and bacteria present in a sample that is going to be tested in qualified laboratories to ensure people’s safety. Then, a minimum viable product (MVP) will be developed to validate the market and develop a business model.