This invention refers to, in general, a device to kill or trap insects such as mosquitoes, sandflies and other harmful insects, in particular flying insects which suck blood or body liquids. Be aware first of all that, even when in the following only mosquitoes and/or sandflies are mentioned, the invention is nevertheless about any harmful insect, such as for instance cockroaches and in general other harmful insects, flying or not.

More specifically, the invention enables to protect men and certain animals from harmful insects ("target-insects") and to exploit the high attractive power of men and many other animals ("friend-animals") on those harmful insects, to attract them and electrocute them to kill them or stun them or weaken them (and then optionally also kill them by other means like fans/traps and/or dehydration means, etc.). One of the two objectives ("protection-killer") may be the main one or the exclusive one, as the case may be. The configuration of the invention which is preferred, but not limited to, is with electrical power high enough so that the harmful insect is normally killed by electrocution, either immediately or after an electrocution lasting an interval of time long enough, without applying further means to kill it like fans, or dehydration means, etc. Depending on the electrocuting power applied and the robustness of the insect, it may happen for instance that the insect is crossed by electricity for several ten seconds before dying.

It is well known that mosquitoes or other flying harmful insects, stinging, not only are very annoying, but also can transmit serious disease (also deadly or disabling), like dengue fever, chikungunya, yellow fever, filariasis, malaria, sleeping sickness, etc.

It is also well known that mosquitoes are attracted by men and other animals, from which they take blood meals, following different stimuli, which can be released smell/gas (like carbon dioxide), view stimuli (in the human-visible spectrum or IR or UV), heat, etc.

Other artificial lure for mosquitoes based on one or more visible stimuli (lamps emitting radiation at different wavelengths as human-visible or ultraviolet or infrared) or smell (carbon dioxide or other substances) or other artificial lure unlikely are effective like the "natural" attraction, given by men or other animals. It can be considered relatively low the effectiveness of those devices if positioned near to people or animals because, when both are present, mosquitoes or other harmful insects are often attracted by people or animals more than by those devices.

Aim of this invention is, therefore, to realise a device to catch harmful insects, like mosquitoes or similar, more effective than other traditional devices.

Another aim of the invention is to realise a device to catch harmful insects, like mosquitoes or similar, with high safety and an excellent quality vs. price ratio.

Another aim of the invention is to realise a device to catch harmful insects, like mosquitoes or similar, very easy to set up, use and maintain.

This and other aims, according to this invention, are fulfilled by a device to catch harmful insects, like mosquitoes or similar, according to claim 1 attached in the following; other more detailed features are described in the following dependent claims.

Advantageously, the catching device according to the invention conceives that humans or animals (one or more) play the role of lure, lure that comes out to be much more effective than any lamp or gas or else.

Moreover, still according to this invention, a structure (for instance grid or comb-like) is used, which is electrified (that is electrically charged, that is with constant or time-varying electric potential differences applied), with preferably different layers and with meshes or openings in general of different density, to kill effectively harmful insects of different sizes.

Said electrified structure can be applied to windows, doors or openings and gaps in general of buildings/houses or of animal stables, or it can be applied as part of mosquito nets for beds (in this case using electric current limiting devices and robust protection grids on both sides).

Said electrified structure can be provided of an internal layer, with more dense meshes, that doesn't allow insects to pass through also when the electrical power is off.

A realisation of said catching device can be either a cage provided with electrified structured surfaces, or a casing-cover to be added on an ordinary animal cage.

In any case, in any of the applications the electrified wall may be a portion of the complete casing or a portion of one wall of interest, but it is appropriate that the remaining surfaces do not allow the insects to pass through (glass, plastic, wood, mosquito net, etc.); similarly, when the catching device is applied to windows or vents in general, it is appropriate that the part which is not occupied by the device has a layer of material that doesn't allow the harmful insects to pass through (plastic, glass, etc.) and that the other windows, door-windows or vents (if not provided with the device) are provided with mosquito nets or kept closed (for a better effectiveness of the device).

Further features and advantages of a device to catch harmful insects, like mosquitoes and similar, according to this invention, will be more evident from the following descriptions of some preferred, but not limited to, realizations and from the attached drawings, where:

figure 1 is an unmounted view of a first realisation form of part of the device to catch harmful insects, like mosquitoes and similar, according to this invention;

figure 2 shows a first realisation form of the device to catch harmful insects , according to this invention;

figure 3 shows a second realisation form of the device to catch insects , like mosquitoes and similar, according to this invention;

figures 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are section views of several realisations of part of the device to catch harmful insects, like mosquitoes and similar, according to this invention, with integrated protection systems;

figure 9 shows a third realisation form of the device to catch insects, like mosquitoes and similar, according to this invention;

figure 10 shows a fourth realisation form of the device to catch insects, like mosquitoes and similar, according to this invention.

Referring to the mentioned figures, the device to catch harmful insects, like mosquitoes and similar, object of this invention, makes use in particular of one or more walls, grids or generic structures, electrically conductive or made of metal, which are electrified (that is electrically charged, that is with constant or time-varying electric potential differences applied), to be applied or inserted in one or more surfaces of several possible objects and/or systems; said structures, depending on the application, can be of different sizes and made of one or more layers, with optionally inserted non-conductive insulating layers. Moreover several different geometries can be chosen for the electrified structures (net, parallel horizontal or vertical lines, comb-like or interlaced comb-like, parallel inclined lines, rhombus shaped, labyrinth shaped, etc.); hereinafter, for simplicity, the word grid will be used with meaning any of those said structures/geometries.

For instance, in the attached figure 1 a three layer structure is shown, layers numbered 1 , 2, 3, provided with electrified grids 6A, 6B, 6C, with two layers numbered 4 and 5 made of insulating non-conductive material.

In any case, in any application, it is also possible that one or more grids 6A, 6B, 6C are not electrified and are not of metal, as one or more of the grids 6A, 6B, 6C may be a simple mosquito net, not electrified and not of metal, or may be a grid made of a low cost material (optionally also a disposable kind) covered, all or in part, by a layer of paint or material which is electrically conductive and/or dark and/or sticky.

At least if the main target are mosquitoes, a dark conductive material, optionally sticky, applied completely or partially to one or more of said grids made or not made of metal (6A, 6B, 6C), may improve a lot the effectiveness of the device. The dark colour in fact increases the probability that mosquitoes alight on the device or try to pass through the device. The sticky feature decreases the probability that those mosquitoes which get electrocuted manage to fly away before they are sufficiently damaged by electrocution. For mosquitoes even a light sticky power is relevant. In fact the electrical discharge itself, in the time interval it electrocutes the insect in contact with or immediately near the electrified structure, probably exerts an attractive force (similar to a sticky feature) on the insect body and/or however stuns it so that normally it is sufficient to keep it till death, also without the use of sticky substances.

A layer of dark conductive material (often also lightly sticky, with stickiness variable with temperature, humidity and degree of drying) can be obtained, in particular, by a water-based compound of electrically conductive carbon, or silver or other electrical conductor, plus pigment or paint, plus glue or resin.

In any case optionally more grids 6A, 6B, 6C can be used with holes or openings of decreasing sizes (sizes decreasing starting from the more external grid and advancing to the grid more close to the space 8A which has to be protected), to be effective on flying insects of different sizes (for instance, mosquitoes have typical size of about 10-15 mm, sand flies have typical size of about 1-3 mm, while flies, some of which take blood meals, have several different sizes). The importance of multilayer is evident to be more effective in catching insects of very different sizes.

As a matter of fact, with meshes of increasing density we manage to have insects of very different sizes as targets, while the use of interlaced meshes is more effective for mosquitoes because they are more likely to alight on the grids 6A, 6B, 6C and they are more unlikely to go through towards the inner space.

In particular, simplifying a bit, if n are the different target insects genotypes, n+1 are the layers (grids) which are necessary/recommended to catch those insects, if the grids are not interlaced (where the electrical discharge happens inclined or transversely), while n are the layers (grids) which are necessary/recommended if the grids are interlaced.

So an interlaced multilayer, for the same target insects, allows better visibility of the inner space 8A and more air flow, so more attraction of harmful insects, because it has one layer less and more optical openings and fluid dynamic openings. In practical design frequent chosen values of n will be 1 or 2 or 3.

It is also possible to use more layers 1 , 2, 3 of grids 6A, 6B, 6C with electrifications of different power, to be effective on flying insects of different size and different body endurance; for instance it is reasonable to think that the electrical power necessary to kill or stun mosquitoes and sand flies is lower than that necessary to kill or stun flies.

In practice, according to some preferred, but not limited to, realizations of the invention, those said grids 6A, 6B, 6C are applied on one or more walls 9A, 9B of a cage 7A, 7B or animal container (rodents, birds, guinea pigs, mice, cats, dogs, etc.), as shown in detail in the attached figures 2 and 3, where the grid is denoted as 6A, 6B, 6C and the animals contained in the cage 7A, 7B are shown with 8.

In the case like figure 2 attached, where one wall 9A of cage 7 has one or more grids 6A, 6B, 6C it is appropriate that the remaining surfaces do not allow flying insects to pass through, so said surfaces should be covered with, for instance, structures made of glass, plastic, wood and/or mosquito nets, that is a non-electrified grid with a very dense mesh.

A possible realisation form of the invention is shown in figure 3 attached, where a cover or supplementary casing 10 is added and encloses completely the cage 7B, said cover or casing 10 having one or more walls 9B made of one or more layers 1 , 2, 3 of the grid 6A, 6B, 6C and the remaining surfaces 9B such that they do not allow insects to pass through.

The grids 6A, 6B, 6C, also of different types, can be applied also to arrays of animal cages 7A, 7B, put in public places or next to public places to kill harmful flying insects of the surrounding area, they can be applied also to one or more surfaces of a bed-mosquito-net and/or on walls or on windows of buildings for human beings or for animals, like cows, horses, pigs, etc., with the condition of being sufficiently protected mechanically and/or from an electrical point of view, that is with safety devices ( circuit breakers, switches, etc., with thresholds configured not too sensitive so that they don't activate too easily also after some insects have contacted the electrified structures), against risks of short circuit or damage caused by contact with weathering. For instance, in attached figures 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, several examples are shown of realized "mechanical" protections, from weather events and water spray or dirt spray, of the grids 6A, 6B, 6C: these protections are made of one layer or two interlaced layers of laminas or laths 11 of glass and/or plastic and/or other material and from a protection grid 12.

In particular, in attached figures 7 and 8 two structures are shown for protection from multidirectional drops or spray ( that may come with non negligible probability from several directions ), structures that can be set towards the outside and/or the inside of the space 8A , especially for weather events or dirt or water drops or spray caused by animals: in particular the coupling of two protective layers set as in attached figures 7 or 8 makes it very difficult the contact with external water, while transparency guarantees more visual attraction given by humans or animals inside.

Moreover said grids 6A, 6B, 6C can also be set inside vents (with electrified grid inside) and/or as panel/porthole/portion of a window and separately openable towards the inside, with the outside always open with protection or the outside itself openable and closable and optionally provided with other attractive devices like lamps with configurable emitting wavelengths, like blue or UV.

For such applications said vents can be integrated with the electrical circuit and must not be correlated with safety matters of systems using methane or flammable substances according to relative rules and legislations; optionally it is possible to widen those vents enough to guarantee a sufficient air flow. In general, in the different applications, grids 6A, 6B, 6C can be electrified, as the case, in DC or AC, with low power or high power, directly connected to the power supply wiring or connected through a transformer 13 or power supplied by batteries 14, but the direct or indirect power source can also be a dynamo, an engine, a solar panel or else.

That electrification may require safety measures, like added internal and/or external surfaces, for instance made of metal or insulating grids, that prevent human beings or animals from having contact with said electrified grids.

In general, in all applications, optionally at least one of grids 6A,

6B, 6C can be provided with at least one protection grid 12, 19, set towards the inside or the outside of the space 8A, to avoid contact or electrical discharge on human beings, or on animals which are different (of bigger size) from the harmful target insects, or on plants, if present inside or outside the space 8A.

Preferably a DC voltage is used, to minimize matters related to capacitance or inductance or reactance in general and rejection of undesired electric discharge between grids.

Nevertheless, it is possible to use different realizations in which the grids 6A, 6B, 6C are electrified in different ways, for instance in alternating current (AC) with two or more phases.

It is evident that in AC the concepts of voltage and electric potential are just approximations, because the electromagnetic field is quickly time-variable and the electric field has not null line integral on a closed curve, however also in AC it is possible to design the device matter of the invention so as to provide an electrocution sufficient to kill or stun or weaken the harmful insects.

It might be that AC is preferable in terms of energetic efficiency, heat loss, matters related to ionization or polarity of molecules or atoms, or to avoid (or reduce) the collection of electrified dust or dirt (including the bodies of dead insects).

At the surface or next to the surface where the electrified metal grid 6A, 6B, 6C is set, optional other tools may be set, like trays to collect dead or stun insects, fans to help the catch of said insects, nets and/or sticky substances to trap insects, UV or IR or visible lighting systems, attractive gas or odor emitting systems and/or heat emitting systems, with the aim of improving the attraction of the harmful insects.

The invention can be applied in, but not limited to, a preferred example application that uses three layers of electrically conductive electrified grids 6A, 6B, 6C, with in between two layers 4, 5 of electrical insulator material that fix together said grids 6A, 6B, 6C and are capable of making the structure more robust and of avoiding deformation and direct contact between said grids 6A, 6B, 6C.

To this structure a more external grid and a more internal grid (more external and internal with reference to the space 8A) can be added, which are not electrified and have a protective aim, to avoid that humans or animals 8 get into contact with the electrified grids. The intermediate grids have negative electric potential or zero electric potential (ground) or a polarity with a certain phase (or two different phases), while the central grid has positive electric potential or a certain polarity with a phase different from the intermediate grids.

One of the intermediate grids has more large meshes (with bigger holes or openings), the central grid has intermediate size meshes, while the other intermediate grid has smaller size meshes (smaller holes or openings), so that the structure can be more effective on insects with different sizes (bigger insects are typically electrocuted between one of the intermediate grids and the central grid, while smaller insects are typically electrocuted between the central grid and the other intermediate grid).

More in general, different layers 1 , 2, 3 of electrified grids 6A, 6B, 6C have meshes of increasing density (holes or openings of decreasing size) from one layer to the next and typically starting from the layer that is more external or distant from the space 8A to the layer that is more internal or near to the space 8A: so that the system can be more effective on insects of different sizes (bigger insects are electrocuted typically between more external and/or central layers, while smaller insects are electrocuted typically between more internal and/or central layers).

Optionally layers with bigger openings, if they have bigger and more robust insects as target, may be electrified with a power that is higher than the power at which layers with smaller openings are electrified.

Moreover, the grid 6A, 6B, 6C with more dense mesh may have a sufficiently dense mesh (or may be coupled with a further non electrified layer with sufficiently dense mesh) so that target harmful insects are not let pass through anyway.

That is particularly useful in the case when the electrical power supply is off, for instance if the device is intentionally switched off or if batteries 14 are discharged or in case of a blackout or in case an automatic breaker of the electric circuit switched off, with the aim of protecting nevertheless the space 8A.

Moreover in general the device may be optionally connected to an automatic system switching it on/off, with a calendar that is programmable specifying dates and times of the day.

In other realization forms, some of the preferred, but not limited to, examples of the invention, the electrified grids can be only three (as shown in figure 1 attached, where they are shown as 6A, 6B, 6C), with the two more external grids that are incorporated in the two intermediate grids and both at zero electric potential (ground) and with sufficiently dense mesh and/or sufficient distance from the layer 2 of the central grid 6B so that it is avoided an electric discharge to humans or animals 8 present inside space 8A, but also proper to guarantee electrocution to insects that pass through grids 6A, 6C.

Meshes of grids 6A, 6B must be sufficiently large (with sufficiently big holes/openings) to guarantee that insects can pass through at least up to where they get electrocuted and, similarly to the previous example, between grids 6A, 6B, 6C, layers 4, 5 of electrical insulator material are interposed, which let air and insects pass through, with the function of making the structure more robust and avoiding direct contact between the electrified grids.

According to other embodiments of the invention, an external non electrified grid 6A is used, with protection function, an internal non electrified grid 6C is used, with protection function, and an intermediate grid 6B is used, made of two interlaced subnets (for instance, each with comb like shape) which are electrified with an electric potential difference between them (for instance, in DC, with a constant electric potential difference between them).

Preferably an electric power supply between 3 and 220 Volts and transformer devices and/or voltage increasing devices (voltage multipliers or similar) are used. Preferably an electrical resistance of electrified grids 6 is chosen so that the electrical current is sufficient to kill target harmful insects, but limited to be not dangerous for humans or other animals 8.

Moreover, methods can be optionally applied to activate the charge (and the subsequent discharge) only in presence of the insect, with saving of energy (and battery life if batteries are used).

Those methods can be for instance at least one of the following: a measure of parallel conductance (that is optionally made easier by the use of the sticky substance that obstacles the insect escape, giving more time to the circuits to perform the conductance measure and to electrocute), an optical barrier, an artificial vision system, an ultrasonic sensor, a radar or something else, or a human being that controls the device.

As mentioned earlier, according to other realization forms of the invention, one or more electrified grids 6A, 6B, 6C can be applied as parts (which can be rectangular for instance) of surfaces being part of circular windows or circular vents, using one or more mosquito nets (or other material that avoids harmful insects to pass through) in those parts not occupied by said electrified grids 6A, 6B, 6C.

Moreover, one or more electrified grids 6A, 6B, 6C can be integrated with one or more bed-mosquito-nets, as shown in the attached figure 9.

In particular, one or more grids 6A, 6B, 6C can be set on at least one side or at least on one lateral portion of a bed 141 , while ordinary mosquito nets 131 are installed on the other sides of the bed 141 and on the remaining part of the side where one or more grids are set.

According to other embodiments of the invention, it is possible to use a cage 7C of little or big size (like an aviary or a big animal cage), like that shown in detail in figure 10 attached, which can hold animals 8 in the internal space 8A and which is provided internally of a set of plants 18 carefully chosen and/or basins or tubs 17 with water that is still or partially moved, aimed at making the internal space 8A of the cage 7C an attracting habitat for the insects.

Similarly to what previously described, on one or more walls or portions of walls of the cage 7C one or more electrified grids 6A, 6B, 6C are set, while on the remaining surfaces or walls 9C of the cage 7C mosquito nets or panels of glass, plastic, wood or other materials are set, which do not allow insects to pass through.

Moreover, when the cage 7C is set outdoor, it can be appropriate to follow some safety measures, like the use of a roof on top 15, which shelters from the rain at least partially, under which (on the higher and more sheltered part of the cage 7C) the electrified grids 6A, 6B, 6C are set, positioned more internally or hollowed compared to the vertical walls of the cage 7C; at the top of the sides 9C it is possible to set an optional horizontal grid 19, which avoids that plants 18 grow up to thrust into the meshes of the grids 6A, 6B, 6C and it is possible to set an optional inclined further protection 20 of grids 6A, 6B, 6C from possible sprays or drops of water or dirt caused by animals 8 that are inside the space 8A.

The same structure shown in figure 10 can be applied also integrated in an animal cage or it can be applied also as a cover/casing for ordinary animal cages (without necessarily the use of the habitat made of water and plants).

At last, the device can be applied to a mobile station, mobile on the ground or by water, for instance on wheels or on boat, said mobile station being preferably but not necessarily of dark colour, because, if mosquitoes are the target, the dark colour increases the attractive power and in general the probability that mosquitoes approach. In the specific case of mosquitoes, the mobile station is particularly useful to act on wide areas, considering that mosquitoes are animals quite area settled, that move relatively little.

From the description given, the technical features and the advantages of the device to catch insects, according to the present invention, are clear.

It is clear that several other variants can be made of the said catching device, without diverging from the principles of novelty inherent of the inventive idea, as it is clear that, in the practical realization of the invention, the materials, the forms and the sizes of the explained details may be whatsoever depending on the needs and they can be substituted with other ones technically equivalent.