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Apple is looking to take smart devices to the next level, as reports state the tech company is working on self-cleaning features. Patent applications posted by Apple Insider detail how Apple plans to use heat and light to decompose any contaminants that might corrupt potential sensors.
From Apple Insider:
“In a pair of related patent applications, Apple describes methods of how certain types of sensor in an Apple Watch or an iPhone can could utilize their own cleaning system. They could deploy ozone, generated by an ultraviolet light, to push away or even erode and decompose ‘unwanted organic compounds’ inside the device. ‘Many mobile electronic devices are equipped with sensors and transducers that enable the devices to perform far more functionalities than communications,’ says an application entitled ‘Removal of organic contamination by ozone oxidation for environmental sensor integration.’ An almost identical application concentrating on the UV side of the issue, says precisely the same thing. They both continue by listing how ‘heartbeat, blood pressure and blood oxygen level measurement are among the numerous applications’ that such devices may use.”
The company goes on to list smart mobile communication devices, such as smart phones and smart watches, as tech in which they’d be able to house environmental sensors that monitor pressure, humidity, and gas. As organic residue accumulation can become a problem Apple reportedly goes on to propose their system that will “decompose organic contaminants inside product housing or near sensor packaging, in order to restore the clean environment needed for accurate readings of the integrated environmental sensors.”
“And that system can be ‘by using ultraviolet (UV) light to illuminate the contaminants,'” Apple Insider adds. Check out the full report here.
