IIT Guwahati researchers develop low-cost products to fight coronavirus

IIT Guwahati researchers have come up with a set of low-cost products that can be used by the general public to keep their surroundings sanitized and safe.

A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati has developed a set of low-cost products to address the sanitization and precautionary issue amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

"The products include heat-based sanitizer box, disinfectant tunnel, foot-operated hand sanitization system and face masks. The innovations are in line with the PM’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan”, says Dr TG Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati.

Dr Sitharam in a statement said: “The Institute is continuously pushing the limits and thriving hard to serve the nation by developing innovative and affordable products to fight COVID-19 are taking up the challenge to convert this time of crisis into an opportunity to serve society and will continuously work to contribute to the masses in this time of pandemic so that vital products that are necessary for hospitals, offices, schools and colleges, private establishments to keep the population safe and secure are readily available at a reasonable cost.”

A heat-based sanitizer trunk for disinfecting the household items such as papers, currency notes, leather items like belts and wallets, has been designed by a group of students underDr Uday Shanker Dixit, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Guwahati, has designed a heat-based sanitizer trunk for disinfecting household items including clothes, papers, currency notes and leather items like belts and wallets.

The sanitizer trunks come in different sizes. The cost for making a small-sized trunk to sanitize wallets, currency notes, papers is Rs 50. A 90 cm × 45 cm × 36 cm trunk may cost around Rs 300.

Dr Supradip Das, Assistant Professor, Department of Design, IIT Guwahati, has come up with a light-weight injection mold for mass manufacturing of face shields to cater to the needs of the hospitals. It is recyclable, reusable and autoclavable. The face shield is not porous. He has also planned to produce 10,000 pieces of the face shield. He has already supplied 3,000 pieces to healthcare workers and organizations.

An IIT Guwahati-incubated start-up has developed a disinfectant tunnel. It is a full-body disinfection chamber meant to decontaminate an individual at a time. The operation cost is less, about Rs 2 per person and the volume of fluid sprayed in one cycle is 25 ml. The size of the disinfectant tunnel is 3 feet x 6 feet and can be easily installed at confined spaces.

Several IITs across the country have come up with various innovations in the fight against COVID-19 during the nationwide lockdown imposed from March 25 and later extended for the fourth time until May 31.

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