Understanding how the Elektra UV system is able
to produce the highest quality pool water using Ultraviolet
technology becomes obvious when you have a basic understanding
of the role that Ultraviolet light waves play in sanitizing
of the of pool water.
What is Ultraviolet (UV)?
Light waves can be measured by the length of the light wave.
Light wave can be classified in different spectrums, which run
from Cosmic rays on one end of the spectrum, to Radio waves
on the other end of the light spectrum. To do the job
of sanitizing the pool water, we use the lightwaves near the
center of the spectrum, called UV-C, with a short
wavelength of 2537 Angstrom, or 254 nanometers. This light
wave is in the range called UV-C. This range produces
germicidal (germ killing) ultraviolet and for our purposes,
is ideal in that when properly exposed, UV-C has the ability
to deactivate the DNA of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens
and destroys their ability to multiply and cause disease.
The process that the UV-C uses is that exposure of micro-organisms
to the UV-C lightwaves in the proper intensity and for the proper
duration, causes damage to the nucleic acid of micro-organisms,
which in simple terms, disrupts the bonds of bases of
the DNA to one another and the organism is unable to reproduce
without such bonds. After proper UV-C exposure, the organism
will die when it attempts to replicate itself.
In the design of the Elektra UV system, we first create a vessel
(wet chamber) to hold the pool water in proximity to the low
pressure UV-C wavelength generating lamp that is inside the
vessel. When designing a unit, the flow rate of the water
is calculated against pump’s output, and the vessel
size is selected to hold the pool water for approximately 2-3
seconds (the time varies depending upon the vessel material
and other considerations).
Inside the wet chamber, there is a special quartz tube
that is open at the bulb insertion end, and closed at the opposite
end. The quartz tube is sealed for water tightness inside the
wet chamber, but is open for insertion of the UV lamp into the
quartz tube. The purpose of the quartz tube is to provide
a barrier between the pool water and the UV lamp, as the lamp
cannot be placed in direct contact with the pool water.
A special high UV-C transmission rate quartz is used for this
tube, as normal Pyrex® or similar glass does not transmit
UV-C lightwaves at the same high transmission rate as the special
quartz tube used in all Elektra UV systems.
When the construction of the Elektra UV system is complete in
our factory, the UV-C lamp is ready to do its job of emitting
lightwaves to the bacterium in the pool water passing
though the wet chamber. As you will note below, this technology
is not only very economical to operate, with nothing more than
a simple annual lamp replacement required (all Delta UV High
Output Lamps are rated a full 9000 hours usable life (approximately
one year of continuous use) before the output falls below the
design output criterion of 30,000 µW/sec/cm2
at lamp end-of-life (EOL), but is far superior to chlorine
as a sanitizer for swimming pool use, as it kills many chlorine
resistant micro-organisms and delivers its killing power on
a consistent basis, rather then the ups and downs of chlorine
dosing.
The additional benefit of using UV over chlorine is that the
UV attacks the chloramines that develop during the hydrolysis
process in chlorine sanitation (whereby the active chlorine
is locked up in nitrogen-ammonia compounds) and the reduction
of chloramines results in both elimination of the “chlorine
smell” found in many pools, as well as a dramatic reduction
in the need for chlorine (tests and users report chlorine use
reduction of 70% or more).
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| For further information on UV disinfection,
click here to go to the International Ultraviolet Association
website |
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