The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 13, 2024
Filed:
Oct. 19, 2020
Ford Global Technologies, Llc, Dearborn, MI (US);
Alan Gutowski, Wixom, MI (US);
Curtis Jones, Wixom, MI (US);
Fred Koberstein, Troy, MI (US);
Stephen White, Saline, MI (US);
Peter Mitchell Lyon, Brighton, MI (US);
John Rollinger, Troy, MI (US);
Scott Thompson, Belleville, MI (US);
M. Scott Christensen, Canton, MI (US);
David Hancock, Flat Rock, MI (US);
Adam Richards, Royal Oak, MI (US);
Steve Skikun, Commerce Charter Township, MI (US);
Frank Fusco, Plymouth, MI (US);
Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for heat sanitizing a vehicle. In one example, a method may include, responsive to receiving a request for sanitization of a vehicle interior, activating an ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) system and operating a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system to heat the vehicle interior above an upper threshold temperature for a threshold duration. In this way, the HVAC system may be advantageously used to expose the vehicle interior to temperatures that kill or inactive microbes while the UVGI system may supplement the heat sanitizing.