Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) has developed a unique continuously operated sterilisation system for everyday accessories to reduce the transmission risk of Covid-19. This machine can be used for the disinfection of personal accessories such as electronic gadgets (mobiles, watches, wireless gadgets) and metallic and plastic accessories (wallets, keys, spectacles, bags).
The product has uses in government and private offices, airports, educational institutes, shopping malls, among others to disinfect these everyday items. The prototype of the system has been handed over to the Haridwar Municipal Corporation for its use. Municipal Commissioner of Haridwar, Narendra Singh Bhandari, said, “This will be a boon to every public sector office which are open 24×7 and thus demands more protective measures to be taken.”
The product consists of an ultra-violet chamber equipped with a moving system which helps in carrying the object in and out of the sterilisation system. It has been designed, in line with the International Standards and Scientific Literature on the use of ultraviolet radiation for sterilisation. The product, by design and operation, takes care of all the health hazards associated with the use of the UV light. Ajit Chaturvedi, director IIT Roorkee, said, “Under the current situation, this machine would play a useful role in blocking the transmission of coronavirus through common accessories.”
The continuously operated sterilisation system has been designed by a team consisting of Vimal Chandra Srivastava from the department of chemical engineering; and his research group students namely Navneet Kumar, Rohit Chauhan, and Swati Verma. The prototype was conceptualised, designed, locally fabricated in Roorkee, and tested within a period of 20 days of lockdown. A patent is also being filed for the developed system. The team will improvise and scale up the production of this system in line with consumer feedback.
“The highlight of this steriliser is that it is operated in continuous mode for non-stop screening of common-use accessories. All the UV sterilisers available in the market, till now, are table-top or batch mode sterilisers,” said Vimal Chandra Srivastava.