Uniform Dose Distribution

Inactivating water-borne microorganisms at consistently high log reduction levels using ultraviolet (UV) disinfection necessitates distribution of the UV light so that all microbes are exposed to a uniform dose. Achieving this aim requires a system design and structure that promotes optimal synchronization of UV light and hydraulic flow patterns along with unimpeded water flow in the disinfection zone. This configuration ensures microbes cannot avoid being confronted by the UV dose and as a result, inactivated.

Atlantium's invention, the Hydro-Optic Disinfection™ system, has achieved the goal of uniform dose distribution as verified by third parties. The system was built to effectively lengthen the path of UV light within the disinfection tube. The combined effect of long paths and optimal water flow ensures microbes are confronted by the required inactivation dose wherever they are located within the disinfection chamber.

Performance: Total Internal Reflection - lengthening the path
of UV light
Inspired by the physics of fiber-optics, Atlantium adapted the principle of Total Internal Reflection (the natural phenomenon that carries waves over long distances in quartz tubes surrounded by air) to water disinfection. Implementing the principle using a thick quartz tube surrounded by an air block, lengthens the effective path of the ultraviolet (UV) rays and raises levels of disinfection to degrees never before attained in traditional UV systems.

Atlantium's Hydro-Optic Disinfection system forces UV light rays to repeatedly bounce back from the quartz tube wall at different angles throughout the entire water volume. The water flowing through the quartz tube acts as a waveguide for the UV light, ensuring that the disinfecting photons continually propagate throughout the entire volume of water.  As UV rays continue to spread and uniformly fill the entire disinfection chamber, all microbes are efficiently inactivated wherever they are located.

Hydraulics - controlling the water flow
Atlantium has effectively engineered the Hydro-Optic Disinfection system so that water flows in a controlled, defined pattern into the system's disinfection tube.  The water flow, synchronized to match the pattern of UV light distribution, runs unimpeded as there are no parts, baffles or brushes to block UV photons from hitting and inactivating microorganisms or compromising the disinfection reaction in the chamber.

In realizing these fundamentals of effective UV disinfection - lengthening the path, properly distributing the UV light and controlling the pattern of water flow - the Hydro-Optic Disinfection system achieves the goal of unprecedented uniform dose distribution, the key to ensuring microbial inactivation at the highest levels.