Maintaining its record of innovative new technologies to combat coronavirus, the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) unveiled a full-body disinfection chamber and a full face mask for medical staff handling affected patients on Saturday.
The full body disinfection chamber, which was developed by the DRDO lab, VRDE, in Ahmednagar, is designed as a walk-through decontamination chamber.
“This is a portable system equipped with sanitizer and soap dispenser. The decontamination is started using a foot pedal at the entry. On entering the chamber, an electrically operated pump creates a disinfectant mist of hypo sodium chloride for disinfecting,” DRDO said.
The mist spray is calibrated for 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.
The system consists of roof mounted and bottom-placed tanks with a total of 700 liters capacity. Approximately 650 personnel can pass through the chamber for disinfection until the refill is required. A separate operator cabin is provided to monitor overall operations.
DRDO said that the system was manufactured with the help of Dass Hitachi Ltd in just 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.
Face Mask
Meanwhile, a DRDO lab in Hyderabad and another in Chandigarh have developed a lightweight face protection mask for healthcare professionals handling COVID-19 patients.
The face mask will be mass-produced using an injection moulding technique for volume production. A demand of 10,000 units has been received from PGIMER and ESIC Hospitals.