LUCKNOW: The Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur has come up with a new low-cost rapid disinfection process chamber for installation at public places such as markets, malls and offices.
So far, disinfection tunnels have been employed at a few places in Gorakhpur and Gautam Buddh Nagar.
Prepared by a team of faculty members from the computer science, industrial and management engineering (IME), biosciences and bio-engineering (BSBE) departments, each chamber unit costs less than Rs 50,000. It could be assembled with the help of locally available items, sources said.
The process utilises two chambers -- an atomisation chamber and a thermal shock chamber. The combination of these two approaches to achieve a cost-effective and rapid disinfection process is also safe for human beings.
The sources claimed that the atomised spraying process facilitates a shower of the rapidly-acting disinfectant solution over the individual in the chamber. Later, the person waits outside for at least 30 seconds before being exposed to the thermal shock process in the thermal shock chamber that can maintain elevated temperatures of more than 60-degree celsius.
The two-stage process can help in achieving a rate of over 80 per cent personal disinfection within 2 minutes, allowing the disinfection of a large number of individuals in a cost-effective way, sources said.
Moreover, the newly-developed system can be erected within 48 hours and can be built with commonly available raw materials. “In bulk manufacturing, we expect the cost per complete system to come below Rs 50,000. The system is suitable for strategic locations like hospitals, large department stores, public offices, secure installations, factories etc,” a press communiqué from IIT-K said.
Meanwhile, the institute is in talks with other entities for supplying a few units, and the training of the local manufacturer to produce similar systems for large scale deployment is underway.
Earlier, in the wake of the outbreak, IIT-K had also come up with an ultra-low-cost personal protection equipment (PPE) kit for medicos treating COVID-19 patients. The estimated cost of each unit stood at below Rs 100 during mass production.