Hyderabad-based Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) premier lab, Research Centre Imarat (RCI) has developed a contactless UVC sanitization cabinet called Defence Research Ultraviolet Sanitizer (DRUVS). It has been designed to sanitize mobile phones, iPads, laptops, currency notes, checks, challans, passbooks, paper, envelopes, etc.
Speaking with India Today TV, senior scientist at RCI Gopinath said that he and his colleague, Sourav Kumar designed the UVC sanitization unit in only 15 days and after validation tests of killing different bacteria, two such units have been given to Virology lab in Hyderabad that was recently inaugurated via video conferencing by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
DRUVS cabinet has a contactless operation which is very important to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The proximity sensor switches, clubbed with drawer opening and closing mechanism, makes its operation automatic and contactless.
It provides 360-degree exposure of UVC to the objects placed inside the cabinet. Once the sanitization is done, the system goes in sleep mode hence the operator would not have to wait or stand near the device.
The RCI has also developed an automated UVC currency sanitizing device called NOTESCLEAN.
While bundles of currency notes can be sanitized using DRUVS, disinfection of each currency notes using it, will be a time-consuming process.
For that purpose, a sanitizing technique has been developed, where one has to place a currency note at the input slot of the device. It picks the notes one by one and makes them pass through a series of UVC lamps for complete disinfection.
Gopinath said Vijay Machine Tools, situated in Shantinagar in Hyderabad, has started manufacturing this machine and it is available in three variants. The top-end unit costs somewhere around Rs 55,000. Reducing the cost of this machine so that it is available at an affordable price is being worked upon.
RCI Director Narayana Murthy confirmed that coronavirus can be easily terminated in this machine as it just has one protein layer.
