Your School Is Now Protected by R-Zero

Upper-room UVGI is an application of UV-C, a wavelength of ultraviolet light emitted by the Beam across the upper part of a room to stop the genetic replication of certain microorganisms in the air. UV-C has been used to disinfect indoor spaces in healthcare settings for decades.

As people gather in a room, the warm air they expel from breathing, speaking, coughing, or sneezing rises to the upper area of the room, where it meets Beam’s disinfection zone. Natural airflow recirculates the disinfected air back into the occupied zone of the room.

Beam devices are permanently installed in high-traffic areas in schools to help deactivate microorganisms in the air that rises to the top of the room, which then recirculates down into the lower portion of the room after being disinfected. Beam’s mechanism contributes to the cleanliness of areas like cafeterias, classrooms, hallways, and more by continuously disinfecting the air throughout the day. Independent laboratory testing for Beam efficacy

Article on Indoor Air Quality by Dr. Edward Nardell, Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Yes. Upper-room UVGI is recommended by the CDC, WHO, and ASHRAE as a superior disinfection method for indoor spaces that has been used in healthcare settings for decades. There are guidelines built around UR-UVGI to ensure it is used safely and effectively.

The regulatory agencies that govern UVC have developed maximum exposure thresholds that establish a safe dosage for human eyes and skin. R-Zero’s products adhere strictly to these published UVC exposure thresholds to avoid overexposure of the skin and eyes. R-Zero devices are built, installed, and programmed to never exceed these limits.

R-Zero also goes through rigorous on-site safety testing and commissioning, performed by highly trained R-Zero Solution Engineers, customizing the intensity and placement of each installed device and checking that the exposure limits are met before devices are used. The protocols of our on-site field teams are validated by Dr. Richard Wade, former head of CAL-OSHA and Chief Scientific Advisor for R-Zero. Small amounts of UVC will reflect off ceilings, light fixtures, ventilation ducts, and windows to bounce down into the occupied space. These “hotspots” are tested using Gigahertz Optiks light sensors calibrated to the 265-nanometer wavelength upon installation and after any maintenance work. Our team ensures that any hotspot is under the 8-hour Threshold Limit suggested by the governing bodies including the ACGIH, NIOSH, and ICNIRP. Irradiation testing combined with run-time limits programmed into the Beam ensures no occupant will be over-exposed to UVC.*

Beam uses a 265nm wavelength of UR-UVGI light targeted at the upper portion of the room only. Beams are installed at least seven feet above ground level and designed to minimize direct exposure of room occupants to UV-C, equipped with sensors that shut off the device as soon as an object or person is sensed in the high-intensity disinfection zone.

The safety baffle at the bottom of the Beam ensures that the germicidal light is directed only into the upper room area. Our customized implementation and modeling minimizes light reflection that causes lower room exposure, further increasing the safety and efficacy of the device.

R-Zero manages the installation of all devices, including safety commissioning processes that ensure devices do not exceed the established TLV and meet all safety and regulatory requirements in every space they are deployed.

Plants do not have the same epithelial layer and cell structure as humans, making them more susceptible to damage from UVC. Different plants have different thresholds—bamboo and orchids, for example, are more sensitive than humans. However, some succulents appear to have greater UVC thresholds than humans. The highest levels of UVC that may be harmful to plants shine directly in front of the Beam—consider moving more sensitive plants to the sides of
the room.

Plant Care with in-room UV-C

Beam devices help to increase the equivalent air changes in the rooms they are installed in, putting less pressure on other building systems like HVAC while helping keep indoor learning environments safer. Proven to be 8x more energy efficient than HVAC alone, Beam is an eco-friendly solution that continually disinfects large volumes of air at the source without chemicals. It’s also the only UR-UVGI device currently on the market that uses LED technology rather than mercury bulbs, making it more effective and sustainable than mercury-based UR-UVGI products.

HEPA filters remove contaminants of a certain size from the air by collecting them. This method presents a few challenges. First, HEPA filters collect only the largest particles and store them—the filters have no way to deactivate viral microorganisms to stop them from reproducing. Secondly, HEPA filters need maintenance to replace costly filters regularly. Beam deactivates active microorganisms immediately, and bulbs only need replacing every 2-3 years. Lastly, whether a HEPA filter is in-duct or in-room, filtering the air through this method requires the filter to “pull” potentially contaminated air across room occupants to reach the filter. Rather than deactivating microbes in the room at their source, HEPA filters may expose room occupants to more particles.

Beam can reduce airborne microorganism load in a well-mixed room by up to 99.9% in minutes. This is equivalent to replacing the air in the room with fresh air 12 times each hour (i.e., 12+ ACH). It is effective against a variety of common bacteria and viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 (Virus), T1 (Virus), and Klebsiella aerogenes (Bacterium).