By Liz Stevens, writer, UV Solutions
Lumaegis, Inc., Austin, Texas, is a maker of LED products and a 2024 IUVA Americas RadLaunch awardee. The company soon will begin sales of RadBox, a fast, energy-efficient alternative to autoclaves for sterilizing dental and medical instruments. RadBox is a countertop semiconductor-based technology that uses UV-C LEDs and infrared LEDs for dual modality sterilization – UV-C for germicidal sterilization and infrared for thermal sterilization. This technology is said to be superior to high heat and steam autoclave technology, slashing the sterilization time for instruments from 85 minutes to just six minutes, eliminating the need for distilled water input, and requiring only 5% of the electrical energy used by autoclaves. The technology also is said to be safer for operators as compared to ethylene oxide. UV Solutions talked with Lumaegis CEO John Morreale about the company’s product.
Focused on Medical Instrumentation
RadBox is designed for disinfection and sterilization of medical instruments, with the dentist, periodontist and prosthodontist sector targeted for its initial sales. The unit is sized for countertop installation, using a transparent tray to hold the instruments. “We sized the system and the tray based on input from our dentist partners,” said Morreale. “We have sized them for the most commonly sterilized instrument pack that goes through a sterilizer – the hygiene kit – because these cleaning tools are the most used in any dental office. There are different sizes of tool kits, and most of the other kits are smaller so they will fit into the RadBox.” Two panels of LEDs, surrounded by aluminum reflective material, are installed in the slide-in chamber, one panel at the top and the other at the bottom of the chamber. In addition to its advantages in time savings, energy savings and water use, the RadBox technology spares dental instruments the traditional extended autoclave exposure to heat and steam, thus preventing damage to these costly tools.
While UV-C LED exposure alone could be used to disinfect or sterilize many solid, non-hollow dental tools and handpieces (tools that hold drill bits), infrared exposure was added to sterilize areas of instruments that are out-of-the-sightline, such as forceps and syringes. “We use anything above 700 nm on the infrared side,” Morreale explained. “We want a broad spectrum of emission, like a 150-degree mission angle.” The UV-C wavelengths range from 265 nm to 280 nm, currently widely available.
The working life of the UV-C LEDs in the RadBox is about 5,000 hours. “We figure based on an eight-day cycle with eight uses a day, nominal 260 days a year,” said Morreale. “That comes to 2,080 cycles per year. We are using Osram LEDs, and they are good for about 5,000 hours, so the LED life is a good three years.” The company plans, however, to take back the units before the three-year point. “Osram and other makers will have made improvements on the overall efficiency of those UV-C devices,” he said, “to the point that we could save a lot of money by refurbishing the boards on the returned RadBox systems and then reselling them. For one of the models we’re working on, the plan is that every three years, we will take the unit back and give the customer a discount on a new unit.”
With this device, verification of sterilization is confirmed via multiple indicators. “We have three ways to verify that the correct dose was delivered,” said Morreale, “because that’s very important to the FDA. We internally measure both temperature and the UV-C dose. We have several UV-C sensors in the chamber.” In addition, the tray has a lid with two unique indicator adhesive tabs. “One tab measures the thermal dose and the other indicates the germicidal dose,” he explained. “Similar to a dosimeter card, our tabs start out as yellow and turn dark red as a visual indicator.” The adhesive tabs also provide a third indicator that instruments have been sterilized; until the adhesive seals are broken, the tools in the enclosed tray remain sterile.
An epiphany in 2021 that came to Morreale and the Lumaegis team during a focus group conducted with periodontal professionals set the company on its current course with the RadBox. Lumaegis had been developing another LED-based product for sterilizing surfaces, for which it thought dental professionals might be a good market. “In the focus group, however, no one cared about the dental office surfaces,” said Morreale. “What they cared about was their instruments, their very expensive tools.” In a dental practice, a sterilized kit of tools is opened for each procedure. Only a few of the instruments might be used, but the entire set must be sterilized before the next use. “We learned, though, that the instruments get dull from autoclave exposure. An autoclave is a high-temp steam process, and it damages the drill bits and eventually all of the tools. Then they must be replaced, and they are very expensive. The periodontists said, ‘Can you clean something like this?’ That was our ‘aha’ moment, and that’s how we first conceived of the RadBox.”
In midsummer of 2025, Lumaegis will start its FDA-required testing, to be complete by mid-September. Finalizing patent applications then will be done. “We anticipate first sales in Q1 of 2026,” said Morreale. “Next January through March, we will start making the equipment, and we have customers lined up. My first sales already are there – the many dental professionals we have consulted with during the design of the RadBox and who will provide critical clinical feedback for us. Also, we just signed our first large customer, an industry partner that also is an investor and a global player in the disinfection/sterilization industry, representing our next 1,000+ unit sales.”
For more information, visit www.lumaegis.com.
The Innovation Column highlights the work of an IUVA RadLaunch awardee. Information has been provided by the manufacturer for educational purposes and has not undergone peer review.
