US-12622429-B2 - UV pest repelling, killing, and/or damaging device and method for the same

Abstract

The present invention relates to a pest repelling, killing, and/or damaging UV light-emitting device ( 100 ) comprising—a housing ( 200 ),—a control element ( 110 ) configured to output a control signal ( 111 ), and—a UV light-emitting element ( 115 ) configured to emit, in response to the control signal ( 111 ), far-UVC light ( 125 ) thereby repelling, killing, and/or damaging one or more pests, e.g. or in particular mosquitos, irradiated by the emitted far-UVC light ( 125 ).

Inventors

• Peter Johansen
• Jens Christian LANGHOFF
• Christian Kanstrup Holm
• Nicolas VOLET

Assignees

• UVL A/S

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20230210

Priority Date

20220211

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A pest repelling UV light-emitting device comprising a housing, a control element configured to output a control signal, and a UV light-emitting element configured to emit, in response to the control signal, far-UVC light thereby repelling one or more pests, e.g. or in particular mosquitos, irradiated by the emitted far-UVC light, wherein the UV light emitting element is or comprises a light source device, the light source device comprising at least one pump laser/pump source configured to emit light at a first predetermined wavelength, and an electromagnetic radiation frequency, or equivalent wavelength, converter, wherein a guiding module of the electromagnetic radiation frequency, or equivalent wavelength, converter is configured to receive and guide at least a part of the emitted light from the at least one pump laser light source, and an output light signal has a second predetermined wavelength different from the first predetermined wavelength.
2. 2 . The pest repelling, UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the UV light emitting element is configured to emit far-UVC light comprising or having a wavelength or peak wavelength of 230 nanometres or about 230 nanometres or less, comprising or having a wavelength or peak wavelength selected from about 200 nanometres to about 230 nanometres, or comprising or having a wavelength or peak wavelength selected from 210/about 210 nanometres to 225/about 225 nanometres.
3. 3 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the UV light emitting element is configured to emit far-UVC light comprising or having a peak wavelength of 222 nanometres or about 222 nanometres.
4. 4 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the pest repelling UV light emitting device further comprises one or more user interface elements and wherein the control element is configured to output the control signal in response to one or more signals provided by or obtained from the one or more user interface elements.
5. 5 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the UV light emitting element is or comprises at least one far-UVC LED, at least one far-UVC field emission device, and/or at least one far-UVC laser.
6. 6 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the pest repelling UV light emitting device or the UV light emitting element comprises an optical band-pass filter configured to filter the far-UVC light, where the band-pass filter transmits wavelengths between 200 nanometres or about 200 nanometres to 230 nanometres or about 230 nanometres, a sub-interval selected from an interval between about 200 nanometres to about 230 nanometres, or an interval comprising a wavelength of 222 nanometres or about 222 nanometres.
7. 7 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic radiation frequency, or equivalent wavelength, converter comprises a nonlinear optical component or part comprising or consisting of a predetermined nonlinear optical material, and the guiding module, the guiding module having a predetermined geometry defining or controlling an effective refractive index of the guiding module, and configured to receive and guide pump light resulting in a guided pump beam, and wherein the nonlinear optical component or part is bonded with or joined to the guiding module, where the bonding is configured to allow at least a part of the guided pump beam to overlap and/or evanescently couple into the nonlinear optical material, and configured to nonlinearly convert the guided pump beam in the nonlinear optical material to an un-guided signal mode radiated as an output light signal at a different frequency or an equivalent wavelength.
8. 8 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic radiation frequency, or equivalent wavelength, converter comprises an optic coupler configured to receive light and provide it to the guiding module.
9. 9 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the guiding module comprises at least one waveguide core and the nonlinear component or part is bonded with or joined to the at least one waveguide core of the guiding module.
10. 10 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the guiding module comprises a substrate material, being different from the predetermined non-linear optical material, wherein the at least one waveguide core is arranged or deposited on a first side of the substrate material, or a substrate material, being different from the predetermined non-linear optical material, and cladding arranged or deposited on a first side of the substrate material and wherein the at least one waveguide core is arranged or deposited on a first side of the cladding.
11. 11 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the nonlinear optical component or part and/or the guiding module comprises embedded electrodes and is configured to respectively change the effective refractive index of the nonlinear optical component or part and/or the guiding module in response to a respective change in applied electric field to the embedded electrodes.
12. 12 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the converter comprises one or more planar optical structures configured to re-route and/or modulate light received or to be received by the guiding module thereby controlling the output light signal.
13. 13 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined nonlinear optical material is one selected from the group consisting of: barium borate (BBO), cesium lithium borate (CLBO), lithium borate (LBO), potassium dideuterium phosphate (KDP), potassium dideuterium phosphate (DKDP), ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP), yttrium calcium oxoborate (YCOB), and potassium fluoroboratoberyllate (KBBF).
14. 14 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the guiding module is a guiding photonic integrated circuit.
15. 15 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one pump laser light source is configured to emit visible blue light and the output light signal is or comprises far-UVC light.
16. 16 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the pest repelling UV light emitting device or the UV light-emitting element is configured to emit visible light in addition to far-UVC light.
17. 17 . The pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the pest repelling UV light emitting device is comprised by or combined with a patio heater or other outdoor heating unit, an outdoor regular lighting unit, or an indoor regular lighting unit.
18. 18 . A pest repelling UV light irradiation method comprising irradiating one or more pests with far-UVC light emitted by the pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more pests include mosquitos.
19. 19 . Use of the pest repelling UV light emitting device according to claim 1 to repel one or more pests by subjecting the one or more pests to emitted far-UVC light, emitted by the pest repelling UV light emitting device, wherein the one or more pests include mosquitos.
20. 20 . A pest repelling UV light-emitting device comprising a housing, a control element configured to output a control signal, and a UV light-emitting element configured to emit, in response to the control signal, far-UVC light thereby repelling one or more pests, e.g. or in particular mosquitos, irradiated by the emitted far-UVC light, wherein the UV light emitting element is configured to emit coherent light obtained by sum-frequency generation.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a National Stage of International Application No. PCT/EP2023/053337 filed Feb. 10, 2023, which claims priority to Denmark Patent Application No. PA202270056 filed Feb. 11, 2022, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a pest repelling, killing, and/or damaging UV light emitting device and a pest repelling, killing, and/or damaging UV light irradiation method. BACKGROUND Various pests impose various challenges and problems in different parts of the world such as destroying or damaging crops, transferring diseases to humans, and so on. For example, mosquitos are well-known transporters and transmitters of a variety of diseases and are one of the most significant hygiene pests in particular in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. Further, mosquitos are well-known transporters and transmitters of a variety of diseases and are thereby one of the most significant disease-spreading pests. Mosquitos are for example a key factor in the spreading of malaria, where in particular Anopheles mosquitos are known for this. Malaria typically spreads when a mosquito becomes infected after biting an infected person and the infected mosquito then subsequently bites a non-infected person. Typically mosquitos are controlled by chemical insecticides e.g. by using insecticides to kill mosquitos in water reservoirs or similar and/or according to other insecticide-based strategies. However, using insecticides or other insecticide-based strategies likely damages other non-harmful insects that are ecological significant e.g. as part of a food chain or similar and may also damage plants, trees, etc. Additionally, exposing water reservoirs or similar to insecticides may very well have ecological drawbacks. Furthermore, insecticide resistance has been observed in several mosquito species recently. Existing non-insecticide-based solutions include mosquito repelling devices or mosquito attracting devices comprises UV emitting light sources for various purposes at various (peak) wavelength intervals. The designation “UV-A” is typically used for UV light having a wavelength of 315 nm (nanometres) to 400 nm (nanometres), the designation “UVB” or “UV-B” is typically used for UV light having a wavelength of 280 nm to 315 nm, and the designation “UVC” or “UV-C” is typically used for UV light having a wavelength of 100 nm to 280 nm. For example, patent U.S. Pat. No. 9,706,764 discloses an insect trap using an ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV LED) emitting UV light having a peak wavelength of 335 nm to 395 nm. Patent application US 2004/0181997 relates to a mosquito repelling apparatus with an air filtering function comprising an ultraviolet ray lamp having a wavelength ranged from 300 nm to 400 nm. Patent application US 2009/0277074 discloses a multipurpose apparatus capable of attracting, trapping, damaging instantly and subsequent killing of insects including mosquitos. However, detrimental effects for humans due to exposure of UV light having at least some of the disclosed wavelengths are well-known and e.g. include skin aging, increasing risk of cancer, skin irritation (erythema), eye irritation (conjunctivitis), etc. The article “Lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects”; by Masatoshi Hori, Kazuki Shibuya, Mitsunari Sato, and Yoshino Saito, amongst others published in Scientific Reports, discloses that while lethal effects of ultraviolet (UV) light, particularly shortwave (i.e., UVB and UVC) light, on organisms are well known, the effects of irradiation with visible light remain unclear, although shorter wavelengths are known to be more lethal. Irradiation with visible light was not thought to cause mortality in complex animals including insects. Here, however, it was found that irradiation with short-wavelength visible (blue) light killed eggs, larvae, pupae and adults of Drosophila melanogaster. Blue light was also lethal to mosquitos and flour beetles, but the effective wavelength at which mortality occurred differed among the insect species. The article suggests that highly toxic wavelengths of visible light are species-specific in insects and that shorter wavelengths are not always more lethal. According to the article, for some animals, such as insects, blue light is more harmful than UV light. The article investigates the lethal effect of light (wavelengths from 378 to 732 nm) on D. melanogaster pupae using LEDs. Accordingly, it would be an advantage to provide an efficient pest (and in particular mosquito) killing and/or damaging device and method. An additional advantage would be to provide a pest (and in particular mosquito) killing and/or damaging device and method that is safe for humans. A further advantage would be to provide a pesticide-free pest (and in particular mosquito) killing and/or damaging device and method. Yet a further a