When the "special period" is out of stock, can the disinfection cabinet completely kill COVID-19?

Recently, with the increase of the number of "Xiaoyang people", the demand for disinfection products has also soared. According to the South Daily, the orders of some manufacturers in December directly doubled compared with the same period last year. Among the household appliances, disinfection cabinets have become an essential product at home. It is reported that some best-selling models of Guangdong Kangbao's disinfection cabinets and other products have even been out of stock to some extent.

However, from the perspective of market scale, the disinfection cabinet market has been "frustrated" frequently in recent years. Since 2017, the demand for disinfection cabinets has begun to decline. According to the data of Ovi Cloud, the retail sales of disinfection cabinets in 2019 decreased by 10.6% year on year. Despite the impact of the epidemic, the consumer demand picked up in 2020, but the retail sales still decreased by 3.3% year on year. In the first half of 2022, the online and offline sales of disinfection cabinets showed a downward trend, The offline retail sales dropped by 21 percent.

In the "special period" when it is sold out of stock, does the disinfection cabinet have the function of thoroughly killing COVID-19? Can short-term sales surge stop the trend of market decline? In addition, if the epidemic situation ends in the future, will the disinfection cabinet market enter the haze again? Where should the development of disinfection cabinet go?

Limited effect of disinfection and sterilization COVID-19

The data shows that the disinfection cabinet is used to dry, sterilize, heat and dehumidify tableware, towels and other items through ultraviolet, far infrared, high temperature, ozone and other methods. At present, the disinfection cabinet is also one of the important electrical appliances in modern kitchens. According to the classification of disinfectors, disinfection cabinets can be divided into high-pressure steam tableware disinfection, electric heating tableware disinfection cabinet, ozone tableware disinfection cabinet, ultraviolet tableware disinfection cabinet and combined tableware disinfection cabinet.

According to the principle of disinfection, the disinfection cabinet mainly includes the principle of ultraviolet disinfection and the principle of high-temperature disinfection. According to Peng Cheng (a doctoral student in Li Sai Laboratory of Tsinghua University) and Li Sai (a researcher in the High Precision Innovation Center of Structural Biology of Tsinghua University), the article Six Methods of "Killing" Virus: Which is the Most Suitable for COVID-19? Points out that the above two disinfection principles can change the structure of COVID-19, Even COVID-19 is completely inactivated. Under the action of high temperature, the chemical bonds that maintain the secondary and tertiary structure of the viral protein will be destroyed, leading to protein denaturation, which makes the virus lose its ability to infect cells and replicate. Using molecular dynamics simulation, researchers from Catalonia University of Technology found that high temperature will cause structural changes and hydrogen bond rearrangement of the protein on the surface of COVID-19, especially the receptor binding region of the surface protein.

The research also points out that UV light can be further divided into UVA band (320 – 400nm), UVB band (280-320nm) and UVC band (200-280nm) according to the wavelength. Among them, UVC is the most destructive to the virus. For COVID-19, after 9 minutes of UVC irradiation (cumulative dose 1048mJ/cm2), COVID-19 with high infection titer (5 * 106TCID50/mL) can be completely inactivated. Therefore, UVC is often used to disinfect the surfaces of equipment and articles and the indoor space of hospitals and biosafety laboratories.

It can be seen that the disinfection cabinet plays an important role in disinfection and sterilization COVID-19. However, from the perspective of epidemic prevention and control, the efficacy of disinfection and sterilization virus by fully using the disinfection cabinet is still limited. Wang Peng, a researcher and associate professor of the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the reporter that the disinfection cabinet can play a certain role in the disinfection and sterilization of COVID-19, but because the epidemic prevention and control is a systematic project, including family living habits, family material reserves, etc., it is not always good to buy a disinfection cabinet.

In addition, Major General Jia Ding, an industry observer, also told the reporter that from the perspective of market scale, "smoke stove elimination" belongs to traditional kitchen appliances. In the last two years, the overall market of disinfection cabinets has shrunk. This year, the overall market of disinfection cabinets is still declining significantly. At present, it is because of the epidemic that the disinfection cabinet market has staged a rebound. However, the staged rebound can only reflect the market fluctuations and demand changes in the "special period", and cannot reflect the medium and long-term development trend of the market.

Multifunctional combination or replacement?

According to the category, there are three main types of disinfection cabinets in the market: vertical, embedded and horizontal. With the upgrading of consumption, the traditional disinfection cabinet, which is limited to disinfection and sterilization, can no longer meet the development of the kitchen electricity industry and consumer demand. According to the research report of Zhongyan Online, from the perspective of the new products of disinfection cabinets launched by various enterprises, the disinfection cabinet is in an obvious upgrading trend. For example, the embedded type disinfection cabinet is in an obvious upgrading trend because of its space saving The beautiful appearance and other characteristics are welcomed by many consumers, and the sales volume and sales volume also increase accordingly.

In addition, in terms of technology, the research report also points out that the functions of the disinfection cabinet are also expanding continuously, for example, the disinfection, drying and storage are integrated, the internal space design is more scientific, the partition storage design is more refined, and it is convenient for users to place the tableware orderly and reasonably. The functional design for the subdivided population and diversified needs is also increasingly rich, such as the disinfection of knives and chopsticks, and the special disinfection needs of the subdivided population such as mothers and infants. In terms of intelligent design, remote interconnection, intelligent control, large screen intelligent display and other functions have emerged.

However, it is worth noting that the quality of disinfection cabinets on the market is mixed. At the same time, disinfection cabinets with different disinfection levels also have different disinfection functions. According to different disinfection effects, disinfection cabinets are also divided into two standards, one star and two stars. One star can eliminate bacteria with ordinary resistance, such as E. coli; As the highest standard, Erxing can kill a wider range of bacteria with stronger disinfection ability, and can kill stubborn bacteria such as hepatitis B virus and poliovirus.

In view of the current situation that disinfection cabinets are out of stock due to the epidemic situation and the future development trend, Wang Peng believes that although some household appliance enterprises have unsalable sales of disinfection cabinets, in the medium and long term, the future consumption scenario and potential of traditional disinfection cabinets are limited. In the future, the kitchen electric industry will also develop towards integration, and the intelligent disinfection cabinet will also integrate multiple functions, such as the combination of terminal control of the intelligent platform, disinfection function and air purification function, which can not only disinfect kitchen utensils but also large objects.

In addition, Major General Ding also believes that in the future, the disinfection cabinet is likely to be replaced by new products. Because the function of the disinfection cabinet is too single and it occupies limited space in the kitchen, this is contrary to the development direction of integrated kitchen appliances with multiple uses, which is very unfavorable for its future development. Therefore, it is likely that the disinfection cabinet market will continue to decline in the future, and emerging products such as dishwashers, integrated stoves, and centralized cooking centers will also, to a large extent, substitute for disinfection cabinets.

In the face of the continuous decline in the business of disinfection cabinets, all the household appliances have launched kitchen electrical packages and products with disinfection functions. For example, Casati launched a flat embedded kitchen electrical package, which includes a disinfection cabinet. According to the official website, this embedded disinfection cabinet integrates disinfection and warming cabinets, with independent functions. The upper containment can vertically place 10 inch professional western food dishes, while the lower one has multiple functions such as drying, cleaning, food insulation, etc. In addition, it can also conduct real-time disinfection monitoring through intelligent WIFI interconnection.

In addition, major household appliances enterprises, such as Bosch Home Appliances and Bosch Home Appliances, have also introduced dishwasher products with sterilization functions, which, to some extent, have also replaced the functions of disinfection cabinets. According to the function introduction of the boss's 13 sets of large capacity dishwashers, in addition to washing dishes and pans, this dishwasher can achieve 99.99% powerful sterilization and double duct hot air quick drying functions, almost realizing the functions of the disinfection cabinet. Therefore, with the technology updating and consumption upgrading in the future, the disinfection cabinet is no longer limited to disinfection and sterilization, and the trend of disinfection cabinet integration is inevitable.