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Krypton Disinfection Lighting

AFWERX · AFWERX TACFI · AFWERX

AI-Readiness Score
11/25
Pathway Speed
4/5
Timeline Realism
2/5
Problem Framing
3/5
AI / ML Fit
0/5
Award + Transition
2/5

Award

$1,000,000
Award ceiling
Far UV Technologies Inc
Awardee
Posted August 17, 2022

Description

Krypton Disinfection Lighting solutions, developed with funding from NASA, the Army and the Air Force, harness the power of narrower wavelength skin and eye safe 222nm ultraviolet light to continuously and autonomously sanitize the air and surfaces all around us. Krypton lighting can safely bring facilities and vehicles into compliance with the current best practices and guidelines by effectively cleaning the air and surfaces in the buildings and vehicles at lower cost and with less energy.  Independent peer reviewed studies have indicated that providing Far UV in indoor occupied spaces can provide an equivalent or better layer of protection to wearing an N95 mask and can approximate being outdoors.    While 222nm far UV has been proven safe, its cost is currently higher than the conventional 254nm UV alternatives due to a lack of economies of scale.  Far UV Technologies has completed initial research and development on potentially reducing the costs of Krypton disinfection lighting by an order of magnitude (90%) and intends to scale the lower cost technology using this TACFI opportunity.  Instead of having $2,500 fixtures that need to be replaced every 1-3 years, Far UV Technologies believes it can scale its own new line of domestically produced fixtures for as much as 75% less with replacement bulbs .  Additionally, Far UV intends to integrate smart sensing and electronics to increase product life.  By reducing the costs by an order of magnitude, Far UV believes that Krypton disinfection lighting will become as common for the control of pathogens as smoke detectors are to protect us from fires.

Score Rationale

The TACFI pathway earns a solid score as a modern fast-track instrument, but this solicitation scores zero on AI/ML fit — it is a hardware manufacturing and photonics scaling project with no meaningful AI component; 'smart sensing and electronics' is not AI. The problem framing and award ceiling are middling: $1M ceiling with a TACFI transition pathway exists in principle but is thin, and the unknown response deadline makes timeline realism impossible to assess charitably.

Source

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