The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project will be to investigate the severity of the healthcare-acquired-infection (HAI) and related problems in US hospitals and to lay a foundation to solve the issues by employing panels of deep ultra-violet (DUV) light emitting diodes (LEDs) integrated with robotic platforms. Human beings are continuously attacked by viruses, bacteria, and microbes populating the air, water, and soil. It makes people sick and, in some cases, the illness becomes lethal. Special care needs to be taken for immunity deficient people in hospitals who are recovering from sickness or surgery. The 2011 report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that approximately 722,000 patients in hospitals acquired additional infection and had to stay extra ~18 days for treatment. It resulted in additional $30 billion cost to US taxpayers. While it is relatively easy to disinfect floors, ceilings, desks, and other flat and even surfaces in hospital rooms by DUV light, there are hard-to-reach and shadowed areas that require special attention. Our team believes that advent of DUV LED integrated with remotely controlled robotic platforms can provide efficient disinfection of shadowed areas and thus reduce the number of HAI cases. We are in the midst of discussion of testing our robotic prototypes with the administration of the Health Division of Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians tribe. It is a great opportunity for publicizing modern health care technologies among Native Americans. HAI is a global problem. In the past the United States was a leader in developing cutting edge technologies in medicine, telecommunication, defense, and aero-space industries. It is therefore vitally important for the US industry to keep producing new high-tech products. If an US team can show the path of controlling HAI it will definitely have a global impact.
This I-Corps project is based on the discoveries from an ongoing NSF-DMREF project. Our findings have shed light on how to overcome the major factors that limit the performance of DUV LEDs. In the research space a few unique properties of the PIs invented LEDs have been demonstrated: a) improved efficiency of light generation in ultra-thin GaN quantum wells, b) better light extraction efficiency, c) enhanced efficiency of carrier injection into quantum wells, and d) capability of LEDs to operate at cryogenic temperatures. Two provisional patent applications have been filed so far to protect the research outcome. Moving forward, our team has built a prototype by integrating commercial DUV LEDs with an autonomous robot to ensure human free disinfection of hospital rooms. It should be able to reach hard-to-access areas like space under beds and tables. We foresee that unique properties of our LEDs will reduce energy consumption by 5 times and enhance lifetime of LEDs. It will also lower the operating cost, improve disinfection of shadowed areas, and guarantee the absence of mercury, commonly found in mercury lamps, to ensure the absence of disposal problems.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
