Jupiter, Florida: According to an official communiqué from Fresh-Aire UV, Chris C Willette, President of Triatomic Environmental, has been granted a patent on May 17, 2016, for a mini ultraviolet (UV) germicidal irradiation light system invention, designed for the tight confines of mini-splits and other HVAC industry ductless air conditioners.

The system is registered under patent number US 9,339,579 B2, and is currently marketed under Triatomic Environmental’s Fresh-Aire UV brand, a manufacturer of UV-C and photocatalytic oxidation/activated carbon indoor air quality (IAQ) products in North America, said the communiqué.

Giving specifications of the system, the company explained that it consists of two pencil-thin, 9(L) x 3/8(D)-inch UV lamps and a 6(W) x 1.5(H) x 1(D)-inch 120 or 208-230-VAC power supply. The company further said that it has sold the system under the product name Mini UV since 2011, and also repurposed it in 2015 as Ice UV Mini for nursing station and retail countertop ice and water dispensers.

Fresh-Aire UV revealed that Willette’s invention was conceived more than 10 years ago, when realising that commercial and central residential system UV light systems available at the time were too large to fit the millions of mini-split evaporator coils across the globe. The invention, it said, inhibits all mould and other biological growth on blower and evaporator coil interior surfaces, and also sterilises germs, viruses, allergens and other pathogens that can flourish in all ductless HVAC systems, including in PTACs, fan coils, recreational vehicle air conditioning and other compact refrigeration systems.

Fresh-Aire added that the system can be installed in just minutes, and an installation video is available on its website or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0cNutozCAg.

The patent, the company highlighted, follows another one granted in 2008 for the Blue-Tube UV, a residential low-voltage UV light disinfection system.