A UV
air cleaning and disinfecting
system has an enclosed
chassis with an inlet / outlet surface panel on one planar side thereof, and the
chassis is mounted in the space behind a drop ceiling with its surface panel coplanar with the ceiling surface and facing into the room space. The surface panel has a pair of inlet vent arrays on opposite longitudinal sides of the surface panel from each other, and a pair of outlet vent arrays on opposite latitudinal sides of the surface panel from each other. Arranged in the
chassis are an
air blower unit and an array of UV lamps. The positioning of the inlet and outlet vent arrays establish four mutually circulating air streams in a four-leaf-clover pattern in the room space, which obtains a high-efficiency
throughput of air handled by the
system. The UV lamp array is arranged longitudinally across the chassis between the inlet ventsat a lower elevational position ofthe chassis. A pair of air filters is arranged at intake chambers separated by UV-blocking baffles at opposite longitudinal sides of the main chamber housing the
air blower in the center of the chassis at an upper elevational position from the array of UV lamps. The upward and downward movement of the air through the filters and over the UV lamps toward the center causes swirling movements which enhance the
exposure of pathogens in the air to UV
radiation exposure. The surface panel is formed with a series of cascading door sections to allow wide access across the center of the chassis for maintenance of the UV lamps, with a first door section connected to an
interlock switch for
cutting off electrical power to the UV lamps and fan when the first door section is opened. The UV-blocking baffles have an angled shape and slits at an upper
flange thereof covered with fused silica shields. The
system's chassis is dimensioned to fit on ceiling rails spaced at standard 4 foot length and 2
foot width intervals. The system can provide 99% or higher inactivation of pathogens in the air with 2 to 7 or more
air changes per hour for standard sized rooms.