UV DISINFECTION APPARATUS, METHOD THEREFOR, AND USE THEREOF

Abstract

A UV disinfection apparatus (1, 1), with a housing (10) and a UV light source (11) therein. An electrical energy store (15) is provided in the housing (10). The housing (10) is sealed off, and a sensor is provided therein, which activates the UV light source (11) only when the laundry treatment device (2) is in operation. Also, a method for disinfecting laundry accommodated in a rotatable drum (21) by means of a UV disinfection apparatus (1, 1) which is autonomous placed into or set in the drum (21) together with the laundry. The UV light source (11) is only activated when the laundry treatment device is in operation.

Claims

1. A UV disinfection unit (1, 1) having a housing (10) and a UV light source (11) received in the housing (10), wherein an electrical energy store (15) is provided in the housing (10), the housing is sealed (10) and a sensor is provided in the housing (10), which sensor activates the UV light source (11) only during operation of a laundry treatment apparatus (2).

2. The UV disinfection apparatus (1) according to claim 1, wherein fastening means are provided with which the UV disinfection unit (1) is mounted on the inner side of a drum door (22) of the laundry treatment apparatus (2).

3. The UV disinfection unit (1) according to claim 1, wherein the housing (10) is formed to be a freely movable in the drum (21), self-sustaining, three-dimensional object.

4. The UV disinfection unit (1, 1) according to claim 1, wherein the sensor provided in the housing (10) is at least one of a positional sensor (13), a movement sensor (14) and a temperature sensor (18).

5. The UV disinfection unit (1, 1) according to claim 1, wherein a germ sensor (17) is arranged in the housing (10).

6. The UV disinfection unit (1, 1) according to claim 1, wherein the UV light source (11) comprises several UVC-emitting LED semiconductors (11) spatially distributed in the housing (10), which are arranged in the housing (10) with a UV light transparent dividing wall.

7. The UV disinfection unit (1, 1) according to claim 1, wherein the UV disinfection unit (1, 1) is adapted to being charged with a charging tray (32) for inductive charging of the electrical energy store (15), wherein the UV disinfection apparatus (1, 1) is adapted to being placed on the charging tray (32) for charging.

8. The UV disinfection unit (1, 1) according to claim 1, wherein the UV disinfection unit (1, 1) is provided with a cover (31), wherein the cover (31) is adapted to being installed on the outer side of the drum door (22).

9. The UV disinfection unit (1, 1) according to claim 1, wherein the sensor provided in the housing (10) is a positional sensor (13) wherein reference points are assigned complementary to the UV disinfection unit (1, 1) which are attachable to the laundry treatment device (2) and cooperate with the position sensor (13).

10. A method for disinfecting laundry in a rotatable drum (21) of a laundry treatment machine with a self-sufficient UV disinfection unit (1, 1) according to claim 1, comprising placing the self-sufficient UV disinfection unit (1, 1) with the laundry in the drum (21) of the laundry treatment machine, and turning on the UV light source (11) in the UV disinfection unit (1, 1) only upon operation of the laundry treatment machine.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the UV disinfection unit (1, 1) is switched on by means of sensors responsive to rotation movement of the drum (21) and turned off upon completion of the rotation movement.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein a movement profile is provided stored in the sensor system for detecting the rotation movement of the drum (21).

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the quality of disinfection in the fluid circulation in the laundry treatment machine (2) is measured and dependent thereon at least one of the intensity and duration of the UV irradiation is controlled.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the laundry treatment machine is a washing machine (2) or in a dryer (2).

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the washing machine (2) or dryer (2) includes a drum (21), and wherein the UV disinfection apparatus (1, 1) is placed or set in the drum (21) of the washing machine (2) or of the dryer (2).

16. The UV disinfection unit (1) according to claim 1, wherein the housing (10) is formed to be a freely movable in the drum (21), self-sustaining, three-dimensional object in the form of a ball.

Description

[0024] Two exemplary embodiments of the invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0025] There is shown in:

[0026] FIG. 1 a UV disinfection unit in a first embodiment in a partly sectioned side view, mounted in a washing machine,

[0027] FIG. 2 a UV disinfection unit in a second embodiment in ball shape in cross-section, and

[0028] FIG. 3 a diagrammatic perspective view of a UV disinfection apparatus according to FIG. 2 in a washing machine drum.

[0029] In FIG. 1, a UV disinfection apparatus 1 is shown with a waterproof housing 10 in a first embodiment in a partly sectioned side view of a washing machine 2, wherein said UV disinfector 1 is attached at the inner side of a drum door of the laundry treatment device 2, for example, a washing machine.

[0030] In a second embodiment, the UV disinfector 1 has a housing 10 in spherical or ball shape. This second embodiment of the UV disinfector 1 includes in principle the same components as the first embodiment within the housing 10, such as the UV disinfection apparatus 1. Hereinafter, the components of the UV disinfector 1, 1 is described with reference to the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2 in cross-section.

[0031] In the fluid-tight housing 10 of the UV disinfection apparatus 1 there are disposed in the spherical shape as UV light source 11 six UVC-emitting LED-semiconductors, of which four LEDs are visible in the cross section shown in FIG. 2. Two further UVC-emitting LEDs point forwards and backwards perpendicular to the plane of the drawing and are not shown in the cross-sectional representation in FIG. 2. Furthermore, a circuit board 12 with electronic components mounted thereon is provided in the housing 10. Among other things, a position sensor 13 and a movement sensor 14 are provided on the circuit board 12. Furthermore, a germ sensor 17 arranged on the outside of the housing 10, a temperature sensor 18 likewise arranged on the outside, and an electrical energy store 15 in the form of a rechargeable accumulator are connected to the circuit board 12. The housing 10 has insulation 19.

[0032] Further, on the back of the UV disinfector 1 according to the first embodiment a charging coil 16 is provided, which allows the inductive charging of the electric energy storage device 15 within the UV disinfection apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 1 in the cross-sectional representation. For charging the accumulator 15, a correspondingly adapted charging device or charging shell 32 can be provided on the outside of the drum door 22 of the washing machine 2 according to the first illustrative embodiment, so that inductive charging of the accumulator 15 via the charging device 32 and charging coil 16 is made possible. The charging device 32 is, for example, clamped or fastened to the drum door 22 magnetically or by adhesion. To shield the UV light radiation acting in the drum 21, a cover 31 is clamped on the outside of the drum door 22 in such a manner that accidental dropping of the cover 31 is not possible.

[0033] In order to determine the position of the UV disinfector 1, 1 within the drum 21 of the laundry treatment apparatus 2 with the position sensor 13, position reference 33 can, for example, be arranged around the drum 21 so that the position of the UV disinfector 1, 1 can be determined with certainty. Suitable as a position reference 33 is for example a RFID transponder. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 three position sensors 33 are arranged on the cover 31 of the drum door 22 of the washing machine 2 so that they provide active feedback at the prompting of the position sensor 13, so that the actual position of the UV disinfector 1, 1 can be determined. Therewith it is also ensured that the UV disinfector 1, 1 can not be turned on in the absence of cover 31 and thus a not possible location determination due to the absence of the position transducer 33 protects the operator against harmful UV irradiation.

[0034] Furthermore, memory modules are provided on the circuit board 12, which contain a movement profile or different movement profiles of a washing machine for comparison with the movement of the disinfection apparatus 1 actually measured with the movement sensor 14 in the second embodiment.

[0035] Hereinafter, the use and working of the UV disinfector 1, 1 is described in particular with reference to the second embodiment of the UV disinfector 1. The ball-shaped UV disinfection unit 1 in its idle state is located on a charging cradle 32. This has an excitation coil which cooperates with the charging coil 16 provided in the housing 10 of the UV disinfector 1 for inductive charging of the accumulator 15 in the housing 10 of the UV disinfector 1.

[0036] If the UV disinfector 1 is taken from the charger 32 the positional 13, the electronics on the circuit board 12 are changed to an activated state, at which the temperature 18 and/or movement sensors 14 are activated, in which however, the UV light source 11 is still is not activated. The ball-shaped disinfection apparatus 1 is now introduced into the drum 21 of the washing machine 2 together with the laundry to be treated. After closing the drum door 22, the RFID position transducer 33 located on the cover 31 attached to the drum door 22 signal to the position sensor 13 of the UV disinfector 1 in the housing 10 that this is positioned within the drum 21.

[0037] However, the electronics on the circuit board 12 does not switch on the UV light source 11 in the form of four UVC emitting LED semiconductors, because the drum 21 does not rotate. As soon as the washing machine 2 is switched on and the drum 21 rotates, the movement sensor 14 registers corresponding movement signals which are compared in the electronics of the circuit board 12 with a movement profile stored there in memory. Once the typical motion profile of a rotating drum 21 of a washing machine 2 is detected, the UV light sources 11 are activated, and the laundry 21 located in the drum is disinfected by action of the UV irradiation.

[0038] Additionally or alternatively, the activation of the UV light source 11 can be made dependent on the ambient temperature measured with the temperature sensor 18 in the drum 21. For example, at least 30 C. must be on hand at the temperature sensor 18.

[0039] The duration of the UV irradiation depends on pre-set irradiation times of a few minutes, for example 1 to 90 minutes, and/or the termination of the rotational movement, namely the end of the selected washing program determined by the motion sensor 14, as a result of which the UV radiation is stopped.

[0040] Alternatively or additionally, a germ sensor 17 may be located in the UV disinfector 1, 1, which measures the number of bacteria in the environment around the UV disinfector 1, 1 and thus can determine the quality of the performed UV disinfection. With a sufficient reduction in the number of bacteria the UV disinfection can be concluded.

[0041] Overall, the sensors, in particular, the position sensor 13, the motion sensor 14 and/or the temperature sensor 18, provide that the UV light source 11 in the disinfecting device 1, 1 is only turned on when washing or drying is in progress, namely the disinfection apparatus 1, 1 is located within the drum 21, and the drum 21 rotates or an elevated temperature is detected.

[0042] An advantage of the self-sufficient UV disinfection apparatus 1, 1 according to the two described embodiments is that they can be used in any laundry treatment devices, such as washing machine, washer-dryer or dryer, without the washing treatment devices having to be laboriously rebuilt. Depending on the design of the laundry treatment device 2, in the case of transparent drum doors 22 (glass doors), the cover 31 on the outside of the drum door 22 or on the inside is necessary or actually already provided by mounting the UV disinfection apparatus 1 on the inside. If a position determination is desired with a position sensor 13 and corresponding position references 33, it is essentially only necessary to provide three RFID transponders, for example, glued to the outside of the drum door 22 or to the cover 31. Since the rechargeable battery is recharged inductively, no plug connections are required to be accommodated in the washing drum 21 which could possibly endanger the water tightness of the disinfection apparatus 1, 1.

REFERENCE SYMBOL LIST

[0043] 1, 1 UV disinfection apparatus

[0044] 10 housing

[0045] 11 UV light source, UVC-emitting LED semiconductors

[0046] 12 circuit board

[0047] 13 position sensor

[0048] 14 motion sensor

[0049] 15 electrical energy storage, accumulator

[0050] 16 charging coil

[0051] 17 germ sensor

[0052] 18 temperature sensor

[0053] 19 insulation

[0054] 2 laundry treatment device, washing machine, dryer, washer-dryer

[0055] 21 drum

[0056] 22 drum door

[0057] 31 cover

[0058] 32 charger, charging cradle

[0059] 33 position reference