Bird-Wing Optical-Reflector Design with Photocatalyst for Low-Glare Mosquito Trapping System with Light-Emitting Diodes

Abstract

Dengue fever is the most serious vector-borne disease in Asia. There are still no dengue vaccines or therapeutic drugs, and vector-mosquito control is the main prevention and treatment method. The prevention and control of dengue-fever vector mosquitoes in Taiwan is still dominated by larval control. However, the removal of the source of mosquito-borne diseases has not been fully implemented, and the removal process of vector-borne mosquitoes cannot keep up with their breeding rate. In addition, chemical agents used in the elimination of pathogenic mosquitoes may cause mosquito resistance and environmental pollution. Therefore, it is important to develop new prevention and control technologies. This study is dedicated to the development of a mosquito trapping optical system with high efficiency and low glare that is safe for humans. The system is mainly equipped with ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV-LED), a freeform-surfaced optical reflector, and a photocatalyst. The reflector can lead light downward for the protection of user eyes, and expand the range of trapping mosquitoes to 225 π m2. Based on practical experiments, captured mosquitoes increased by about 450% through the proposed system compared to conventional traps using UV LED. In addition, the proposed system is shown to be 45% more enhanced in trapping capability after a photocatalyst (titanium dioxide) coating is applied to its reflector.

Keywords

• light-emitting diodes (LED)
• low-glare mosquito trapping system
• optical reflector with free-form surfaces
• photocatalyst coating (titanium dioxide)