1 MULTIPURPOSE DISINFECTANT CABINET BOX POWERED BY UV(C) LIGHT
Aditya Gaiki, Abhishek Mishra, Pawan Singh Rajput, Sandeep Dubey Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Gyan Ganga Institute of Technology and Sciences, Jabalpur, M.P, India 482003 Abstract - UltraViolet radiation, Chlorination, washing with soap and heating are some aethods of sterilizing. UltraViolet light is the best sterilizing and disinfectant agent, used for domestic as well as clinical purposes. Food packets, books, stationery, medical equipment, toys, electronic gadgets like mobile phones, laptops, wrist watches, etc can be sterilized with UV radiation whereas other methods of sterilization cannot be used. UV light does not release any waste and is eco-friendly, if used in a controlled manner. UV radiation is a range of electromagnetic waves with shorter wavelength (high frequency and energy). The wavelength from 100-280 nm known as UV-C is the best disinfectant used for purifying water, air, sterilizing vegetables and surgical equipments. Research has shown that UV-C wavelength can kill harmful fungi, protozoa, bacteria and viruses like SARS-CoV-2 Virus.
The article describes the construction of a low cost UV-C Sterilizer Box where UV radiation is taking place in a closed environment. Safety features are also incorporated to prevent humans from UV light exposure. The basic idea is to design such a cabinet that can be installed at the entrance or the porch of any house. The box is powered by the disinfectant power of the UVC light and runs on normal electricity. It can be used by the people to disinfect the daily goods and materials before they are further handled. It could be used to disinfect things such as clothes, raincoats, umbrellas, delivery goods, packages, keys, wallets, belts, processed food, ready to eat items, etc. which are exposed to different microbes and are often left uncared of. Amidst this time of the COVID crisis, disinfection is one of the key activities to be done and followed. This daily disinfectant box will ease out the way to disinfect all our goods but with this special care is to be taken that the UVC rays does not come in contact with the human skin or eyes as it is very harmful and might cause extreme damage leading to skin cancer too.
Keywords: UltraViolet, Radiation, sterilized.
1 INTRODUCTION
With time the risks of infection are growing rather than declining, even in everyday life. After all, who is able to make a distinction between cleanliness and hygiene? This situation is further compounded by the growing number of persons who are susceptible to infections.
If one wants to combat infectious diseases in an economically feasible and consistent manner, public support must be sought.
In turn, the public has a right to be informed in a proper and responsible manner. The difference between “dirt” and
“contamination” must be highlighted once again. These tough times of COVID have taught us that with personal hygiene and self-care, disinfection of things is also a necessity in today’s time. We touch a lot of things during our daily routine and not all of these are meant to be cleaned. On the surface of these objects lie microscopic bacteria and viruses that can cause a lot of harm to the human body.
According to a project by Paula Zuccotti an average person touches about one
hundred and forty objects a day and that those objects are continuously changing;
the book, music player, and internet browser, for instance, have all been condensed into one smartphone. Out of these objects how many could be infected by various kinds of microbes, bacteria, fungi and viruses or been delivered to us by someone who is affected.
2 HARMFUL EFFECTS OF MICROSCOPIC ORGANISMS
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) is a contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV- 2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The disease has since spread worldwide, leading to an ongoing pandemic.
Microbes cause infectious diseases such as flu and measles. There is also strong evidence that microbes may contribute to many non–
2 infectious chronic diseases such as
some forms of cancer and coronary heart disease. Different diseases are caused by different types of microorganism
Viruses are also called diseases by disturbing organisms' homeostasis.
Some examples of viruses that cause a disturbance in the homeostasis of the organism are rabies, mumps, measles, AIDS, herpes, polio, common cold, conjunctivitis, smallpox, hepatitis, cancers, and many more diseases.
Harmful bacteria are called pathogenic bacteria because they cause disease and illnesses like strep throat, staph infections, cholera, tuberculosis, and food poisoning.
3 PROBLEM FORMULATION BY UV(C)
Direct Exposure: UVC radiation can only inactivate a virus if the virus is directly exposed to the radiation.
Therefore, the inactivation of viruses on surfaces may not be effective due to blocking of the UV radiation by soil, such as dust, or other contaminants such as bodily fluids.
Dose and Duration: Many of the UVC lamps sold for home use are of low dose, so it may take longer exposure to a given surface area to potentially provide effective inactivation of a bacteria or virus.
4 EFFECTS OF UV(C) RADIATION
UVC radiation is commonly used inside air ducts to disinfect the air. This is the safest way to employ UVC radiation because direct UVC exposure to human skin or eyes may cause injuries, and installation of UVC within an air duct is less likely to cause exposure to skin and eyes. There have been reports of skin and eye burns resulting from improper installation of UVC lamps in rooms that humans can occupy. Consider both the risks of UVC lamps to people and objects and the risk of incomplete inactivation of viruses.
Risks: UVC lamps used for disinfection purposes may pose potential health and safety risks depending on the UVC wavelength, dose, and duration of radiation exposure. The risk may increase
if the unit is not installed properly or used by untrained individuals. Direct exposure of skin and eyes to UVC radiation from some UVC lamps may cause painful eye injury and burn-like skin reactions. Never look directly at a UVC lamp source, even briefly. Some UVC lamps generate ozone.
Ozone inhalation can be irritating to the airway. UVC can degrade certain materials, such as plastic, polymers, and dyed textile.
Some UVC lamps contain mercury. Because mercury is toxic even in small amounts, extreme caution is needed in cleaning a lamp that has broken and in disposing of the lamp.
5 DESIGN APPROACH
Making this cabinet not only a medium of disinfection but providing it a broader usage, we came up with the idea of installing a mechanism to take out moisture and odour out of things kept inside this cabinet. By installing a standard heating unit and providing exhaust fans would create the necessary draught to take out both the moisture content and the odour.
As in the model we can have the heating unit in the bottom right of the cabinet and the fans placed starting from the diagonally opposite corner. In this model we have three fans but the number of fans depends on the capacity of the heating device and the fan itself resulting in the desired amount of draught. To avoid the leakage of UV light due to insertion of the fans, a shutter mechanism is provided where the shutter size is considerably larger than the size of block made for the adjustment of the fan to make the cabinet completely UV leak proof. Apart from this the UV lights in the cabinet can only be turned on when the door of the cabinet is shut properly.
6 PARTS AND SPECIFICATIONS 1. Mild steel Cabinet
2. Exhaust Fans (6 Inches) 3. Steel Grills
4. Heating Unit 5. Timer Switch
6. Push Switch Button
3 7 DESIGN OF THE CABINET
Figure 1 Final Designo Multipurpose Disinfectant Cabinet Powered By UV(C)
Light
Figure 2 Front View of the Design 8 CONCLUSION
In this project we have tried to come up with new ideas based on the current global situation and already done work on this topic. We successfully achieved our aim to design a UVC light cabinet that can disinfect all our daily things or objects with the greatest ease and effect.
In our design we have provided a larger than usual volume so that things with different dimensions and slightly greater dimensions such as helmets, laptops, etc.
can also be easily disinfected. The cabinet is designed keeping in mind the harmful effects of the UVC rays on human skin and other organs. Considering this, it is made sure that the cabinet is leak proof and comes with safety features that are extremely user friendly.
9 FUTURE ENHANCEMENT
Can be automated to use by android device or phone.
Can be built to run on solar power itself.
Solar panels could be attached.
Modes for different items could be introduced like food, electronics, etc.
Work can be done to find alternate material for box.
REFERENCES
1. Rahul Santhosh; Sudha Yadav Low Cost Multipurpose UV-C Sterilizer box for protection against COVID’19,Published in:
2021 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Smart Systems (ICAIS) 2. Izabela Wojtenko, Mary K. Stinson, Richard
Field, Challenges of Combined Sewer Overflow
3. Disinfection by Ultraviolet Light Irradiation Published online: 03 Jun 2010
4. Dana Mackenzie,Ultraviolet Light Fights New VirusPublished online 2020 Jun 27. doi:
5. 10.1016/j.eng.2020.06.009
6. https://abionline.com/is-uv-sterilizatio n- effective-for-viruses-and-bacteria/
7. https://www.heraeus.com/en/hng/lightis_m ore/how_does_it_work/uv_surfa
ce_treatement/pre_treatment_and_activation_
of_surfaces.html
8. https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/arti cles/10.1186/s12879-021-06310-
9. Model Rendering: AutoCAD 2017 and SOLIDWORKS 2020.
