Hyderabad: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in its continuous quest to contribute towards the fight against COVID-19, has been developing several solutions from its existing arsenal of technologies and experience. These consist of innovations and quickly configuring the products for present requirements. Today DRDO has introduced two products that can enhance the operations at public places during the pandemic.
Automatic Mist Based Sanitiser Dispensing Unit
Centre for Fire Explosive & Environment Safety (CFEES), Delhi, using its expertise in mist technology for fire suppression, has developed an automatic mist based sanitiser dispensing unit. It is a contactless sanitiser dispenser that sprays alcohol-based hand rub sanitiser solution for sanitisation of hands while entering the buildings/office complexes, etc. It is based on water mist aerator technology, which was developed for water conservation.
The unit operates without contact and is activated through an ultrasonic sensor. A single fluid nozzle with a low flow rate is used to generate aerated mist to dispense the hand rub sanitiser. This sanitizes the hands with minimum wastage. Using an atomiser, only 5-6ml sanitiser is released for 12 seconds in one operation and it gives the full cone spray over both palms so that the disinfection operation of hands is complete.
It is a very compact unit and the bulk fill option makes it an economical and long-lasting product. It is easy to install the system as wall-mountable or on a platform. As an indication of operation, an LED illuminates the spray.
The unit was manufactured with the help of M/s Riot Labz Pvt Ltd, Noida, and one unit that has been installed at DRDO Bhawan. The unit can be used for sanitization of hands at entry and exit to hospitals, malls, office buildings, residential buildings, airports, metro stations, railway stations, bus stations, and critical installations. The product is also expected to be very useful for the entry/ exit of isolation and quarantine centres.
UV Sanitisation Box and Hand-held UV device
Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS)and Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS), DRDO laboratories in Delhi have designed & developed Ultraviolet C Light-based sanitisation box and handheld UV-C (ultraviolet light with wavelength 254 nanometres) device.
The UV-C consists of a shorter, more energetic wavelength of light. It is particularly good at destroying genetic material in COVID-19. The radiation warps the structure RNA which prevents the viral particles from making more copies of themselves.
The UV-C kills microbes quickly. Sanitisation of the items by employing UV-C light avoids the harmful effects of the chemicals used for disinfection. This is environment friendly and is a contact-free effective sanitisation method.
The UV-C box is designed for disinfecting personal belongings like mobile phones, tablets, purse, currency, the cover of office files, etc. COVID-19 virus will be deactivated by using UVC lamps in one minute placed equidistantly in a box with a UV dose of 100 mJ/cm2.
The UV lamps used in the sanitisation box also emits 185nm which produces ozone and is able to take care of the unexposed area on the surfaces of the objects placed in the box.
The handheld device having eight watt UV-C lamp disinfects office and household objects like chairs, files, postal delivered items and food packets with an exposure of 45 seconds at a 100 mJ/cm2 irradiance placed at a distance of fewer than two inches. This measure can reduce the transmission of Coronavirus in office and public environment which is required to work in all conditions.
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