Apparatus and system for sterilization of garments using ultraviolet light

Abstract

An ultraviolet (UV) sterilization system and a device for sterilizing a garment having shoulder, torso, and sleeve portions including a garment enclosure; a garment hanger; and at least three UV emitter sets, wherein the garment enclosure comprises a housing and a door that are affixed to each other to provide an interior cavity of the garment enclosure, wherein the housing further includes a plurality of housing walls that encapsulate the housing, and wherein each of the plurality of housing walls comprises a housing-wall inside surface located within the plurality of housing walls and a housing-wall outside surface located outside the plurality of housing walls.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A ultraviolet (UV) sterilization system for sterilizing a garment having shoulder, torso, and sleeve portions comprising:
 a garment enclosure;   a garment hanger; and   at least three UV emitter sets,
 wherein the garment enclosure comprises a housing and a door that are affixed to each other to provide an interior cavity of the garment enclosure, 
 wherein the housing further comprises a plurality of housing walls that encapsulate the housing, and 
 wherein each of the plurality of housing walls comprises a housing-wall inside surface located within the plurality of housing walls and a housing-wall outside surface located outside the plurality of housing walls. 
   
     
     
         2 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 1 , wherein the internal cavity is accessed by the door that is attached to the plurality of housing walls so that when the door is closed, the garment enclosure is closed from external access. 
     
     
         3 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 1 , wherein the internal cavity is configured to selectively receive and contain the garment to be sterilized. 
     
     
         4 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 1 , wherein the housing-wall inside surface comprises a first UV emitter set that is configured to selectively emit UV light when energized by an electrical current. 
     
     
         5 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 1 , wherein the first UV emitter set comprises at least one UV emitter that is removably attached to the housing-wall inside surface. 
     
     
         6 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one UV emitter is connected to an external battery source outside the garment enclosure by an electronic wire. 
     
     
         7 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one UV emitter comprises an internal battery that self-powers the UV emitter for emitting UV light. 
     
     
         8 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 5 , wherein the housing wall comprises a UV reflective material to reflect UV light emitted from the at least one UV emitter, thereby resulting in an even distribution of the UV light in the interior cavity. 
     
     
         9 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 1 , wherein the garment enclosure comprises at least one hanger station that is affixed at or near a top portion of the garment enclosure and further configured to receive the garment hanger. 
     
     
         10 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 9 , wherein the garment hanger comprises:
 a hook portion; and   a garment-support frame attached to the hook portion,   wherein the hook portion is removably hung on the at least one hanger station as to hold the hanger in place within the garment enclosure.   
     
     
         11 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 10 , wherein the garment-support frame comprises:
 a left-side hanger arm that corresponds to a left sleeve portion of the garment; and   a right-side hanger arm that corresponds to a right sleeve portion of the garment.   
     
     
         12 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 11 , wherein each of the left-side and right-side hanger arms comprises a shoulder-support portion and a corresponding sleeve-support portion configured to support, respectively, the shoulder and sleeve portions of the garment, the sleeve support portion being more distant from the hook portion than is the corresponding shoulder-support portion. 
     
     
         13 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 12 , wherein the garment-support frame comprises:
 a second UV emitter set,   wherein the second UV emitter set comprises at least one electrically energizable UV-emitter that is configured to emit a UV light upon activation, and   wherein the second UV emitter set is disposed along each of the left-side and right-side hanger arms.   
     
     
         14 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 13 , wherein each of the left-side and right-side hanger arms comprise elbow that protrudes outwardly from the left-side and right-side hanger arms to form an obtuse angle between the shoulder-support and sleeve-support portions, such that the sleeve portion of the garment hanging on the garment hanger protrudes at least one of (i) forwardly, and (ii) backwardly from the torso portion of the garment, such that the garment is stretched for maximum exposure to the UV light from the second UV emitter set. 
     
     
         15 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 13 , wherein the garment-support frame comprises a material that is translucent relative to UV light as to maximize the garment's exposure to the UV light from the second UV emitter set. 
     
     
         16 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 13 , wherein the hanger station comprises a station electrical contact, and wherein the hook portion comprises the hanger electrical contact, such that when the hook is affixed to or hung on the hanger station, the station electrical contact is in electrical contact with the hanger electrical contact as to activate the second UV emitter set. 
     
     
         17 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 16 , wherein the station electrical contact is connected to an external energy source. 
     
     
         18 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the at least three emitter sets comprise a third emitter set,   wherein the third emitter set is configured to be used in an interior surface of the garment,   wherein the third emitter set comprises at least one pocket-sterilizing orb to be inserted in the interior surfaces of the garment,   wherein the at least one pocket-sterilizing orb comprises:
 a bulbous orb housing defining an interior orb cavity, 
 at least one electrically energizable UV-emitter, 
 an electrically-conductive orb tether with a first and a second end,
 wherein the first end connects to the at least one electrically energizable UV-emitter, 
 wherein the second end connects to an electricity source located on the at least one of: the garment hanger and the housing-wall inside surface, and 
 
   wherein the bulbous orb housing comprises a material that is translucent relative to UV light in order to facilitate maximization of the surface area of the interior surface that is impinged upon by a UV light emitted from the at least one electrically energizable UV-emitter of the third UV emitter set.   
     
     
         19 . The UV sterilization system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the at least three UV emitter sets are connected to each other and an external power source via an electric wire. 
     
     
         20 . A UV sterilization monitoring system comprising:
 a data-processing system;   a garment enclosure banks containing on-site machine-to-human interface;   at least one remote machine-to-human interface; and   an individual-user machine-to-human interface,   wherein the data-processing system, the garment enclosure banks, the at least one remote machine-to-human interface, and the individual-user machine-to-human interface are connected to each other via communications network,   wherein the garment enclosure banks comprise housing and a set of UV emitters inside the housing to carry out UV sterilization of a garment once the garment is placed inside the housing; and   wherein the data processing system comprises:
 a server, 
 a database, and 
 a locker-user data file, 
 wherein the server, the database, and the locker-user data file are connected via communications network, and 
 wherein the UV-sterilization monitoring system further comprises a non-transitory machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon and configured when executed to cause the UV sterilization of the garment inside the garment enclosure banks to be carried out based on the locker-user data file.