- Crompton says its LED bulb can kill bacteria
- LG is incorporating mosquito away technology in ACs and TVs
AC, TV, even LED lamp brands have started selling products that they say can reduce insects at home. Somewhere in the middle of last decade, a strange gadget started making its way into retail stores, especially eateries in the country. It was a rectangular box, looking like a cage, usually white in colour, with a grill that housed tube lights in unorthodox colours such as green or blue. What was exciting about this gadget is that somehow it seemed to attract mosquitoes, moths and flies, and with a buzzing, often irritating noise, kill them instantly.
This was probably a user’s first exposure to electronic pest control. Till then, pest control in urban as well as rural Indian household meant a huge glob of Odomos, lavishly spread over the exposed part of one’s body. A lot has changed since then!
Anti-bacteria bulb
Cricket fans will surely be curious about a TVC that keeps coming during the ongoing world cup. This TVC of an anti-bacteria LED bulb shows how, by simply plugging it into the socket, a home can be made pest free by up to 85 per cent. The Crompton Anti-Bac LED claims that it does not emit any harmful UV or IR radiations.
So, how exactly does it kill harmful bacteria? Crompton claims that its LED bulb emits light in the wavelength range of 400 nanometer (nm) to 420 nm, which is safe for human exposure, but is medically used for microbial disinfection. In simple words, it uses the same principle as ultraviolet or infra red radiation for medical purposes.
Just that here, the range and magnitude is minimal, just enough to kill minute live bacteria. Of course, it doesn’t take rocket science to understand that an LED bulb can never replace an air purifier, but it is a good, basic starting point towards a healthier home, of course at a fraction of a cost of an air purifier.
Fooling pests with sound waves
LG with its proprietary Mosquito-Away Technology, says it is able to keep away mosquitoes by simply switching on a mode in its ACs and TVs. While Crompton uses light wavelength, LG uses sound. LG understood that mosquitoes detect human presence because of their gifted capability to sense carbon dioxide presence around the human body. The modus operandi of a mosquito is pretty simple. Go in the direction of carbon dioxide concentrate and you are sure to find a human being to feast on!
The company, with help of RandD and engineering, developed an ultrasonic sound wave that inhibits the mosquitoes’ ability to sense the carbon dioxide presence in the room. The particular frequency of sound waves blinds the mosquito’s ability and makes it numb to carbon dioxide presence. hence, it becomes inactive and goes away, without realizing human presence in the vicinity.
LG has incorporated this technology in some televisions as well as some air conditioners. The concept has become a huge hit, in India, as well as emerging markets in south east Asia.
While these two examples may just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to incorporating innovative features to everyday gadgets, pest control is surely one feature which gets users excited, and makes them look forward to more innovative products and solutions from various brands. Meanwhile the rest, driven crazy by mosquito bites, can always hit them with one of those mosquito-killing, battery-operated bats which look so much like tennis racquets.
This story has been submitted by Vishnu Anand. He is working as a technology and business journalist under the guidance of veteran journalist Anand Parthasarathy (Ex-The Hindu).
