A UGA research team has invented a quick, effective way
to decontaminate people exposed to hazardous chemicals or biological
agents.
The walk-through booth uses static electricity to set up an attraction
between a person’s skin and the chemicals used to decontaminate
it, much like static cling causes socks to stick together in the dryer.
The booth is outfitted with nozzles — each with a small computer
chip — that produce mists of electrostatically charged droplets.
Charged mists of disinfectants or antitoxins tend to adhere to skin
better than uncharged ones, coating even armpit and groin areas, according
to S. Edward Law.
Law, a professor of biological and agricultural engineering, leads
the research team and directs the university’s Applied Electrostatics
Laboratory. The team includes UGA microbiologist Mark A. Harrison and
former graduate student Steven Cooper of Electrostatic Spraying Systems
Inc., whose company manufactures nozzles for farm equipment under UGA
Research Foundation-licensed patents.
“It’s mobile and not restricted to hospital use,” said
Law, who estimates that as many as 90 people can be sprayed — one
at a time, from head to toe — in an hour.
The booth also uses as little as 3 ounces — or less than half
a cup — of decontaminating spray per person. And it produces
only small amounts of contaminated waste — 20 milliliters, or
roughly 4 teaspoons, per person.
Law presented the team’s research at the 2003 Institute of Physics
Conference on Electrostatics in Edinburgh, Scotland this past March.
So far, the United States, Japan and Australia have issued patents
for Law’s newest electrostatic nozzle. Patents are pending in
several other countries.
For
more information, access www.engr.uga.edu/people/faculty/law/ or
contact S. Edward Law at edlaw@engr.uga.edu.
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