IIT Roorkee Researchers Develop A Sterilizing System For Disinfecting Personal Belongings Against Coronavirus

Roorkee: Researchers at IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Roorkee have developed a disinfection box that can be used to sterilize personal belongings, medical equipment, PPE (Personal Protective Equipments), apparels among others, against coronavirus. “A team of researchers at IIT Roorkee led by Prof. Soumitra Satapathi, Laboratory of Integrated Nanophotonics and Biomaterials, has developed a disinfection box that can be used for sterilizing a wide variety of personal belongings including medical equipment, Personal Protection Equipment, apparels among others, against coronavirus,” IIT Roorkee said in a statement.

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Termed as the ‘Unisaviour’ box, it comprises a metal coated with specially- designed highly reflective geometry to allow the calibrated passage of UVC light to disinfect personal belongings. The box has an internal coating of indigenously-developed metal oxide along with herbal anti-bacterial and anti-viral layers to prevent the growth of microorganisms when UVC light is not in use. The user-friendly device comes with an additional safety switch for UVC light, the statement further said.

Prof. Satapathi, Associate Professor of Physics, IIT Roorkee sad that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the significance of maintaining overall hygiene to reduce the transmission risk of the disease. He said,

The sterilizing system will aid the disinfection of various personal belongings and can be easily deployed at public places such as malls, cinema halls among others to maintain the highest standard of hygiene.

The statement further said that the ‘Unisaviour’ box is equipped with an Arduino-programmed system to control the time exposure and intensity of UVC light, that aids in the sterilization of various personal belongings.

As the world strives to return to normalcy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, this device will be a step forward in ensuring safety. It is easy to use and will be useful for disinfecting items in public places, said Prof. Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee

According to the statement, other team members in this research include Ph.D. students, Prathul Nath, Naveen Kumar Tailor, Tejasvini Sharma, Anshu Kumar from Dept of Physics and Neeladri Singh Das and Prof. Partha Roy from Department of Biotechnology. The team has filed a patent for this innovation.

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