To combat Covid-19, scientists develop mobile indoor disinfection sprayer

Team L&M

To clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, especially the ones in public space, the scientists at CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur, have developed two mobile indoor Disinfection Sprayer units. Called Battery Powered Disinfectant Sprayer (BPDS) and Pneumatically Operated Mobile Indoor Disinfection (POMID), these units can be used for cleaning and disinfecting pathogenic micro-organism effectively, especially in the hospitals. Intermittent usage of these disinfecting units can help minimise the risk of transmitting coronavirus to people who inadvertently come in contact with those surfaces.

The sprayer systems in both BPDS and POMID are designed with two-stage spraying units and separate storage tanks to clean and disinfect the indoor areas by the numbers of fixed and flexible nozzles set in the lower and upper tiers. There is also an industrial variant of the Disinfectant Sprayer for heavy usage and to cover a larger area.

“Most of the disinfectant sprayers prevalent in the market are based either on cleaning or disinfecting using a single chamber storage for the liquid and are pump-based. The droplets produced by a pump sprayer are much larger in size and the effective coverage of surface is lesser. However, the CSIR-CMERI developed indoor sprayer systems consists of dual-chamber storage for disinfectants and cleaning and have better nozzle design, better arrangement of nozzles and lesser droplet sizes. The sprayed disinfectant can thus cover a greater surface area for the specified volume of liquid”, said Prof Harish Hirani, Director, CSIR-CMERI.