Latin America. Christie announces the launch of the Christie CounterAct product line for commercial disinfection using ultraviolet radiation. The new products incorporate Care222, a patented far-UVC technology, and are ideal for use in cinemas, theme parks, museums, sports complexes and other indoor spaces.
Christie's line incorporates Care222 narrowband filter excimer lamps, a Ushio patent that emits a far-UVC light of 222 nanometers. It is the only UV technology that has been shown to be able to continuously and significantly reduce pathogens such as coronaviruses in spaces occupied by people, provided that it is done following certain parameters. Mass production of Christie CounterAct will begin in January 2021.
Developed by Christie's parent company, Ushio Inc., from technology licensed from Columbia University, the revolutionary Care222 care far-ultraviolet and mercury-free excimer lamp on fortune's annually published Change the World list includes a patented short-pass filter that prevents the emission of ultraviolet light with high wavelengths of up to 230 nanometers capable of traversing the outer layer of dead human skin cells or the tear layer of the eye, a filter that other 222nm and far-UVC products lack.
The products of the Christie CounterAct line are easy to manage by remote control and can be installed on the ceiling like any other luminaire on the market. They can be used in a wide range of facilities, such as spaces dedicated to leisure and entertainment, including lobbies, auditoriums or bathrooms, and other indoor spaces. Our first Christie CounterAct luminaire contains two Care222 far-UVC excimer lamps, which significantly reduce pathogens present on the surfaces of any interior space.
The luminaire, with instantaneous switching on and off at full power and Technology for Care222 lamps, has been shown to be effective in reducing pathogens in experiments carried out in laboratories2 and, unlike other similar products, thanks to its patented Care222 lamps, it can be used in the presence of people.
History of UV light
The great effectiveness of ultraviolet light as a disinfectant to reduce pathogens indoors has been known for many years. There are many companies and public institutions that have been using germicidal UVC light for some time to stop the spread of all types of viruses. The main drawback of most products with UVC technology is that they use a wavelength of 254 nanometers, which can cross the human skin and eye, which means that these germicides are only used without human presence or in people dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE). Those drawbacks limit the use of those devices and their incorporation into indoor spaces occupied by people.
A study3 carried out by Kobe University and published in August 2020 has concluded that, due to its shorter wavelength, 222nm far-UVC light does not pass through the skin, and can therefore be used in the presence of people. Another recent study4 published in the American Journal of Infection Control shows that 222nm far-UVC light can effectively reduce more than 99.7% of surface contamination of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19.
Researchers at Columbia University's Irving Medical Center have also conducted tests with 222nm far-UVC light to study its specific effect on aerosol-borne seasonal coronaviruses (which cause common colds). A scientific article published by this group in June 2020 in the journal Nature5 confirms that, exposed for just 25 minutes to a far-UVC light of 222nm, 99.9% of seasonal aerosol-borne coronaviruses (the cause of the common cold) were inactivated.
The findings of these studies suggest that the filtered 222nm far-UVC light emitted by the Care222 lamps of Christie's CounterAct luminaires can operate uninterruptedly in the presence of people, which is a very important improvement over traditional manual cleaning, which requires the presence of professional cleaners and the repeated use of toxic chemicals with ephemeral results.
