To help to vanquish the coronavirus attack, IIT Mandi has come up with an interesting solution. They have developed an ultraviolet-C (UV-C) light-based disinfection box and a foot-operated sanitizer dispenser. Both these creations are portable which ensures no contamination as there is no “touching” involved.
The team ensured that these products are of low cost resulting in maximum efficiency. The disinfection box was developed at a price of Rs 35000, which has the capacity to disinfect the household items.
The product was tested and verified with a team of researchers which includes, Dr. Himanshu Pathak and Dr. Sunny Zafar, Assistant Professors, School of Engineering, IIT Mandi.
They reported in a statement that the prototype has been tested in the lab-facility at IIT Mandi. They produced good results against the bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Both were killed when exposed to UV less than 40 seconds. They also stated that this did not affect the product in terms of heating and related issues.
The disinfectant box was designed with a specific structure. The outer opaque frame is made out of wood. The cuboidal box is coated with two-layer aluminum foil on its inner walls to prevent any leakage of the UV light. 10 UV lamps connected to a timer were used for disinfection. The timer regulates the intensity and duration of the UV light.
On the other hand, the foot-operated hand sanitizer provides a simple but effective way to solve the present problem. This was developed by a team headed by Mr. Navish Sharma, technical assistant, Civil Engineering, IIT Mandi along with Mr. Tilak Raj and Mr. Hans Raj. This low cost operated product finds a suitable way of using sanitizer without touching it.
In this model spring type action is initiated in the bottle’s lid. Once the bottle is deprived of sanitizer fresh one is replaced.