Focusing on in-house solutions to fight coronavirus pandemic, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed a full-body disinfection chamber called Personnel Sanitisation Enclosure. This walk-through enclosure is designed for personnel decontamination, one person at a time. The DRDO is already manufacturing and supplying sanitisers and masks to the Delhi Police while the Navy has manufactured handheld temperature gun at a cost of Rs 1,000 which is much less than the ones available in the market. The DRDO has also developed portable sanitisation spray which can be used to spraying disinfectant.
Giving details about the latest endeavour, defence ministry officials said here on Saturday the portable system is equipped with sanitiser and soap dispenser. The decontamination is started using a foot pedal at the entry. On entering the chamber, electrically operated pump creates a disinfectant mist of hyposodium chloride for disinfecting. The mist spray is calibrated for an operation of 25 seconds and stops automatically indicating completion of operation. As per procedure, personnel undergoing disinfection will need to keep their eyes closed while inside the chamber.
Moreover, the system consists of roof mounted and bottom tanks with a total of 700 litres’ capacity.
Approximately 650 personnel can pass through the chamber for disinfection until the refill is required. The system has see-through glass panels on side walls for monitoring purpose and is fitted with lights for illumination during night time operations. A separate operator cabin is provided to monitor overall operations.
The system has been manufactured with the help of M/s Dass Hitachi Ltd, Ghaziabad, within a time span of four days. This system can be used for disinfection of personnel at the areas of controlled ingress and egress such as entry and exit to hospitals, malls, office buildings and critical installations.
Earlier, the DRDO also developed face protection mask for health care professionals handling COVID-19 patients. Its light weight construction makes it convenient for comfortable wear for long duration.
This design uses commonly available A4 size Over-Head Projection (OHP) film for face protection. The holding frame is manufactured using Fused Deposition Modeling (3D printing). Polylactic Acid filament is used for 3D printing of the frame. This thermoplastic is derived from renewable resources such as corn starch or sugarcane and is biodegradable.
The face mask will be mass produced using injection moulding technique for volume production. Nearly 100 face shields are being produced daily and provided to PGIMER, Chandigarh. Similarly, 100 are produced and handed over to ESIC, Hyderabad.
A demand of 10,000 masks been received from PGIMER and ESIC Hospitals, they said.
In the continuing quest for developing indigenous solutions to combat the pandemic, the DRDO is ready with technologies for sanitising areas of different sizes. The Centre for Fire Explosive & Environment Safety (CFEES), Delhi has developed two configurations of sanitising equipment. These are spinoffs from technologies developed for fire suppression applications.
The CFEES, Delhi with the help of its industry partner has developed portable sanitisation equipment for spraying decontamination solution consisting of one per cent Hypochlorite (HYPO) solution for sanitisation of suspected area.
The portable system can be mounted as a backpack and can be carried by the operations personnel.
This system incorporates low pressure twin fluid (air & disinfectant liquid) technology to generate very fine mist. The system is capable of disinfecting upto 300 square metre area.
The application areas can include hospital reception, doctor chambers, office spaces dealing with general public, corridors, pathways, metro and railway stations, bus stations, etc.
The Centre with the help of its industry partner has also developed a higher capacity which is carried on a trolley. The system incorporates low pressure single fluid (disinfectant liquid) technology generating very fine mist. It is capable of disinfecting upto 3,000 square metre area. It has a tank capacity of 50 litres and has a lancing (throw) distance of 12-15 metres.
This is useful for disinfecting hospitals, malls, airports, metro stations, isolation areas, quarantine centres and high risk residential areas.
Two of these systems are being provided to Delhi Police for immediate use. These can be made available to other agencies with the help of industry partners.