[Influencenews I Hyeseon LEE, Correspondent] COVID-19 is a scary and brutal virus that spreads rapidly with secondary and tertiary infections. Because of COVID-19 personal hygiene management, such as wearing a mask or washing hands, is very important, as well as the virus prevention in the crowded spaces such as elevators in schools, hospitals, government offices and etc.

Elevator is an enclosed space, in which people have no choice, but to in a very close contact. Therefore, elevator is still pointed out as a place with high possibility of spreading various infections, viruses and bacteria. And the development of UV sterilization system by Korean engineers became an issue, because such system can drastically reduce the risk of spreading infectious diseases in the elevator.

The elevator company SILVER Elevator Korea (CEO Seo Eun-kyo) succeeded in developing 'ASel', the first elevator UV sterilization system in Korea. The project was achieved through a national policy project organized by the Small and Medium Business Administration.

'ASel', UV sterilization system, perfectly sterilizes by irradiates 200W-grade UV-C pulses (100Hz) to pollutants such as viruses and bacteria floating and adhering in the elevator. In addition, the ion cluster absorbs and decomposes odor molecules, microorganisms, bacteria, and mold (fungus) in the air, which help to provide clean air in the elevator for 24 hours through deodorization and sterilization.

An official from SILVER Elevator Korea said: "We often think of elevator’s disinfection as wiping off the surfaces with related chemicals, but with this method sanitization cannot be archived and even more, it still has a risk of secondary contamination because of the left chemicals. Otherwise, "ASel achieves complete sterilization with a multi-layer sterilization mechanism of high-power UV-C ultraviolet sterilization, plasma ion sterilization, and titanium dioxide light sterilization,"

SILVER Elevator Korea recognized the problem of the possible spread of viruses through multi-use facilities during the 2015 MERS incident, and since elevators provide vertical transportation in such facilities, the company concentrated on the development of professional sterilization system for elevators. I t took years of development and in 2019 ASel development was completed.

The industry expects that the elevator UV sterilization system ASel will play a leading role in preventing the spread of the viruses, such as H1N1 and COVID-19, in the building through the elevators sterilization, and also will always make the elevator as a clean space.

In addition to the sterilizing function of the elevator, ASel also removes fine dust in the elevator with the air cleaning function using a HEPA filter, and the elevator manager can also manage and monitor CCTV through the Android Application with IoT technology, which can help in crime prevetion.

Also, ASel is a smart elevator sterilization system that allows the elevator to sterilize itself during non-operating hours to prevent active viruses and secondary infections, ensuring safety.

An official from SILVER Elevator said: “SILVER Elevator Korea, which has proved the superior technology of Korean elevators overseas and has a total export amount of 100 billion won, has led the Korean Wave in the elevator industry. We will focus on exporting and raise Korea's status once again."