Hyderabad: Mekins Industries Limited in association with International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous R&D Centre of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India and University of Hyderabad (UoH) have developed a UVC based disinfection trolley to fight against COVID-19 by rapid cleaning of the hospital environment, offices, factories, malls, airports, railway coaches, etc.
Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Science and Technology said, “Dry disinfection and sterilization of hospital rooms, instruments and other surfaces in the high-risk areas using a deep ultraviolet light is a good solution, which is implemented by the designer trolley in a compelling package that brings in ease, speed and efficiency.”
This trolley was developed with lot support & co-ordination between Dr. G. Padmanabham (Director ARCI), Dr. Tata Narasinga Rao (Associate Director, ARCI), Dr. R. Vijay (Centre for Nanomaterials, ARCI), Dr.Samrat (University of Hyderabad) & Mr.Mayank Agarwal (CEO, Mekins Industries Limited).
Mr. Mayank Agarwal CEO, Mekins Industries Limited said “Our main objective was to come out with a cost-effective solution to support our nation to fight COVID 19. With our company’s expertise & learning while dealing with the automobile customers, we were able to develop this UVC based disinfectant trolley in a very short time with the available in-house resources. We are also working to completely automate this trolley and the robotic version of the same will be released shortly which will be IoT enabled.
The UVC disinfection trolley is very helpful to dis-infect hospitals, airports, malls, railway coaches, offices & factories. We are also coming up with UVC based box to dis-infect items (like purse, wallet, mobile, helmet, keys, courier boxes, etc) which we get into to our house & offices”.
UV light in the range of wavelengths between 200 and 300 nm is capable of inactivating microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses, thus disinfecting both air and solid surfaces.
“Following Mr.Anand Mahindra’s tweets & efforts put in by Mahindra Group, our company also got inspired to fire up our R&D brains to come out with a product to fight COVID 19. We thank ARCI & UOH for all the support” added Mr. Mayank Agarwal.
Rapid decontamination of the used patient-care beds and hospital rooms before admission of subsequent occupants is a major requirement in hospitals in view of the limited availability of beds. Coronavirus is sensitive to UVC light, as in the case of other viruses and bacteria.
The germicidal effects of UVC irradiation with a peak intensity at 254 nm results in cellular damage of the virus, thereby inhibiting cellular replication. Often, chemical disinfectants are not enough to remove the bacteria and viruses found in hospitals and other contamination prone environment.
Unlike chemical approaches to disinfection, UV light provides rapid, effective inactivation of microorganisms through a physical process. This will also be very helpful in malls, hotels, offices, airports, railways, etc.