Evaluating tools for predicting and measuring radiometric performance of germicidal ultraviolet systems

Germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) air treatment technologies can be effective and safe for reducing airborne disease transmission. Today, GUV systems are designed and evaluated using simulation and measurement tools that require further assessment of their accuracy in estimating fluence rate and irradiance. This article reports results from two experiments where two simulation software (Visual Lighting and Photopia) and two measurement techniques (tetrahedron and cubic approximations) were evaluated against chemical actinometry for quantification of GUV fluence rate in a chamber. Additionally, Visual and Photopia were compared to measurements of planar UV-C irradiance for eye and skin exposure. Results showed that overall mean fluence rates were similar between actinometry and both simulation software for WR GUV systems as well as between actinometry and Photopia for UR GUV systems. The tetrahedron approximation better predicted overall mean fluence rate for WR and UR GUV systems, compared to a cubic approximation which tended to overestimate it. Compared to measurements, simulated eye and skin irradiance varied, with higher variability in simulated eye irradiance. The evaluated simulation software can be used to guide the design of GUV systems but must be supplemented with in situ measurements.