DRDO develops Ultra Violet disinfection tower

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an Ultra Violet (UV) disinfection tower for rapid and chemical free disinfection of high coronavirus infection prone areas.

The Ultra Violet blaster is useful for high-tech surfaces like electronic equipment, computers and other gadgets in laboratories and offices that are not suitable for disinfection with chemical methods.

"The product is also effective for areas with large flow of people such as airports, shopping malls, metros, hotels, factories and offices," the DRDO said in a statement.

The UV based area sanitiser may be used by remote operation through laptop or mobile phone using WiFi link.

"The equipment has six lamps each with 43 watts of UV-C power at 254 nm wavelength for 360 degree illumination," a DRDO official said.

For a room of about 12x12 feet dimension, the disinfection time is about 10 minutes and 30 minutes for a 400 square feet area by positioning the equipment at different places within the room.

The Ultra Violet blaster is a UV based area sanitiser designed and developed by Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC), the Delhi based premier laboratory of DRDO, with the help of New Age Instruments and Materials Private Limited, Gurugram.

This sanitiser switches off on accidental opening of room or human intervention. One more salient safety feature of the product is the key to arm operation.