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As the world responded to the Covid 19 pandemic, electrostatic sprayers as a superior method to hand wiping surfaces with disinfectant, emerged as a leading solution for businesses and organizations to bring greater safety to their spaces in a tumultuous time. With increased popularity came a surge of new sprayers that hit the market, making the claim that their sprayers would “wrap around” and cover hidden areas with disinfectant more effectively. Many of these sprayers didn’t deliver on that promise and some were even outright frauds, not using real electrostatic technology and certainly not delivering any value or safety to the customers who purchased them.
While the market has quieted down a bit since the wild west of the COVID days, electrostatic sprayers, true electrostatic sprayers, are still one of the most effective disinfectant spray methods, especially when it comes to covering the most space, with the least amount of labor, waste, and mess.
This article’s intention is to build a base understanding of the differences in electrostatic sprayers to allow consumers to make more informed decisions when purchasing them. So, if you’re in the market for a sprayer that can deliver on its promise, you’ll want to know the important things to look for and what data the manufacturer needs to supply you.
To get the basics, I reached out to ByoPlanet’s, Steve Cooper, Senior Vice President of Research and Development, and the man behind the science of their electrostatic spraying systems, to discuss what factors are important in a high-performance electrostatic sprayer. He brought up several factors I had never considered, but Steve explained that there are really four main factors to look for:
- Droplet Charge
This refers to the static electricity charge on the spray droplets. The level of charge on the droplets is extremely important in creating the attraction force of the droplets toward the target. When electrical charge is put on spray droplets, it creates an electric field with the target, which causes the spray to wrap around and cover hidden areas more effectively. In order for this to work, the electrostatic charge has to be high enough to create a sufficient electrostatic field to motivate the spray to move against gravity.
- Droplet Size
A droplet that’s forty to fifty microns in size is optimal for biological efficacy and pathogen control. This size gives the best coverage of disinfectants without dripping. This also happens to be the perfect size for electrostatics because droplets in this size range, if charged sufficiently high, will move against gravity and air currents toward the target. Droplets that are too large, over eighty to one hundred microns, tend to fall to the floor due to gravity. Droplets that are too small, below twenty microns, are susceptible to staying airborne for long periods of time.
- Propulsion and Delivery
This refers to the energy you need to move the spray from the nozzle to the target. Without that energy, the spray droplets will deposit on the closest objects which leaves you with poor uniform coverage. The preferred propulsion method is to use an airstream to carry the spray droplets. A turbulent airstream allows you to move quickly and direct the spray more efficiently. It also improves coverage on more complex three-dimensional targets. Targets like this are your more complex coverage areas like a chair or fixtures in a restroom.
- Consistency
You could have a sprayer with the right droplet charge and size, and it can have great propulsion and delivery, but if it’s not working the same way every time you use it, it’s not going to be as effective. The best electrostatic sprayers offer greater consistency with every use.
Electrostatic sprayers should be simple to use while effectively improving disinfectant coverage. When shopping for an electrostatic sprayer, make sure the company provides good data on spray charge levels, droplet size, propulsion techniques, and consistency, and can provide evaluations of spray coverage compared to other methods and other sprayers.
For more information about ByoPlanet’s electrostatic sprayers, connect with us at https://byoplanet.com/.
