Custom component for UV fly zapper
Custom components make sure that the UV tubes in electronic fly killers are still doing their job
Customised indicator components from Elektron Technology are playing a key role in exterminating dangerous pests – telling users of PestWest’s electronic fly killers when their UV lights have lost their fatal attraction.
Electronic fly killers work by attracting flying insects using ultra-violet (UV) light, which is proven to be irresistible to most species of flying insect pests. UV light has a wavelength between 100 and 400 nanometres (nm) and is generally subdivided into three categories: UVA (315-400nm), UVB (280-315nm) and UVC (100-280nm). The optimum range for attracting flying insects is 350-370nm, so it is the UVA wavelengths that are used in electrical flytraps.
The UV tubes used for insect control have a special internal phosphor coating, which is what gives off the UV light when the tube is lit. However, this coating degrades and reduces the UV intensity over a short period of time - usually around 12 months. It is therefore important to change the UV tubes regularly.
What makes this particularly challenging, is the fact that UV light is completely invisible to humans; we can only see blue light with wavelengths of 450-500nm. In the case of the fly killers, the tubes will still give off normal, visible light for a few years but after 12-months there is no guarantee that the light is in the correct wavelength range or has a UV output sufficient to attract flies.
James Shaffer Jnr, president of Pestwest, LLC USA said: "Our R&D and customer feedback identified that we needed a technical solution to help us address this problem with a visual aide to remind our clients to service and replace the tubes every annum instead of the typical set replacement time at the onset of spring. In reality the tubes are replaced in systems all year round but occasionally it can appear that some customers have fully functioning fly killers, but which are in fact just pretty blue lights."
Chris Lawrence, operations director, PestWest added: “We have been using Elektron Technology’s Arcolectric switches in our products for many years. During one of the Elektron salesperson’s regular visits we discussed this particular challenge and the fact that we were starting work on designing a bespoke timer with an in-house engineer. He immediately indicated that Elektron could help us more efficiently solve our problem by custom programming one of its Arcolectric maintenance indicators for a 12 month time period, in order to give a visual warning to let customers know when the UV lamps should be replaced. This option was very appealing as it was far simpler than diverting in-house resource onto a bespoke project and meant we could reduce time to market and risk. It was also far less expensive than the other option available to us, namely the use of a special UV meter.
He continues: “The integration of the Arcolectric maintenance indicator warning system into our fly killers has proven to be a very cost effective and efficient solution to the problem. Elektron Technology’s ordering system and support was excellent. The maintenance indicators are made in China and then shipped to our factory in Vietnam before the finished product is produced and then sent by container to our customers in the USA.”
Stuart Hutchings, marketing manager with Elektron Technology’s Arcolectric brand adds: “Our significant R&D investment allows us to work closely with companies from all over the world and across a number of industries to develop product variants which are tailored to their specific requirements.”
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