Timisoara Polytechnic University researchers develop device that sterilizes air exhaled by COVID-19 patients

Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Timisoara, in western Romania, have developed the prototype of an air sterilization device that local hospitals could use in the fight against the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

The prototype of this device, which sterilizes the air exhaled by patients infected with COVID-19, has reached the lab testing phase, and the preliminary results are promising, the university announced.

“Research groups from the Polytechnic University of Timisoara have developed the prototype of a device that sterilizes the air exhaled by patients, which can be used in intensive care units, and which would be especially useful now, in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, and not only,” the university announced, local News.ro reported.

“The device’s operation is based on microbiological load reduction by exposure to UVC radiation of the air exhaled by critically ill patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 who are intubated and mechanically ventilated. The device is connected to the exhaust port of the ventilator, which currently communicates freely with the atmosphere."

The device is currently being tested in a laboratory on an intensive care ventilator. The Oncogen Institute will provide the necessary infrastructure for the microbiological tests.

Once the tests are completed, the Polytechnic University of Timisoara intends to patent the device.

(Photo source: Facebook/Universitatea Politehnica Timisoara)