GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport is the first in the country to install NoviSphere Pathogen Eradication units.
“We’ve been doing this for a year. We’ve really stepped up our ‘Flying GRB Means Clean’ initiative,” said Airport Director Marty Piette. “Cleaning and disinfecting, social distancing, plexiglass barriers, a touch-free experience – this is one more tool in our toolbox.”
Piette hopes the installation of three NoviSphere PE 254 units, and educating the public about what they do, will help build confidence for travelers coming through their terminals.
“We understand that there is still some hesitation from some travelers to get back out and travel and be in an airplane. But we’re trying to make that customer understand everything that we’re doing to make it a safe environment to bring them back,” Piette told WTAQ News. “They are logo’d and we are going to be installing some signage near each unit, so that if somebody’s walking by or maybe sitting there waiting for their flight, they’ll say ‘Hey, it looks like they’re doing something a little bit extra,’ and it piques their interest. We’ll provide some information so they can see exactly what we’re doing to help clean the air.”
The units are mounted to the ceiling, allowing activity to take place at the airport with minimal interruption. One is located in the baggage claim area, another is near the elevator and escalators inside the main entrance, and a third is located on Concourse B. Each unit provides continuous pathogen eradication for up to 13,000 cubic feet of volume.
The airport and NoviSphere hope to maintain and build their partnership as the technology grows and improves.
“[We’re] looking at more units to make sure that we’re covering the entire terminal building. We have two concourses that are pretty large, so I see more units being installed. And I’m sure more technology will continue to come out and continue to improve, and we’ll implement that as it becomes available,” Piette said.
While the new units are just the first generation of NoviSphere systems, they utilize a scientifically proven UV-C light along with proprietary baffling technology to kill 99.99% of airborne pathogens, including the coronavirus.
NoviSphere CEO and former NASA astronaut Paul Lockhart explains how PE 254 pathogen eradication units work at Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport. (PHOTO/WTAQ News)
“The science behind it is simple. It uses UV-C light at its most effective wavelength,” said NoviSphere CEO and former NASA astronaut, Paul Lockhart. “We have electronics that control it, measure it, that allow you to set the rate at which the air comes through – we bring it through fast and we make the air turbulent to maximize the exposure to the UV-C light and then exhaust it out with all the pathogens killed.”
Lockhart says his team was working on building clean rooms just before the pandemic hit. The original goal was to make those clean rooms more modular, and to build them faster – and that they had a prototype already underway. But when coronavirus spread became a major issue, he says they shifted their focus.
“When the pandemic hit, we knew the first thing we had to do is bring in this pathogen eliminator because we can help organizations like schools and here, the airport, get back to full functioning,” Lockhart explained. “Instead of rushing our device to market when it was a prototype, we said we need to go through real testing to make sure that it operates efficiently and is safe to use. So that’s what we’ve been doing the past year, and that’s the reason why we’re just now coming out with it…You have to devise a device that can bring in as much air as possible, circulate it in such a manner that all of the pathogens are killed by the UV-C light, and then protect the device.”
Lockhart points out that if something can destroy pathogens, it can also cause damage to a person’s eyesight or tissues if it isn’t contained properly.
The company also hopes to make smaller units that can eventually be used in a mobile fashion, like rolling it on a cart from classroom to classroom in a school setting.
As facilities continue to find newer and more efficient ways to stay clean and healthy, Lockhart agreed with Piette – it’s another tool in the toolbox.
“You have to clean the surfaces, people have to take care of themselves, but the main method by which coronavirus and flu and others all are transmitted from person to person is airborne,” Lockhart said. “This device hits the coronavirus and other viral contaminants right in the condition in which they are the most harmful to us, in the airborne part, but in which we can then eliminate them the fastest.”
