DRDO develops UV Disinfection Tower to ward off coronavirus aerosols

India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an Ultra Violet (UV) Disinfection Tower for rapid and chemical free disinfection of high infection prone areas as coronavirus is continuing its spread in the country with more than 42,000 affected already.

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

The UV 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.

UVDisinfectionTower / DRDO

The UV based area sanitiser may be used by remote operation through laptop or mobile phone using any wi-fi link. The equipment has six lamps, each with 43 watts of UV-C power at 254 nm wavelength for 360 degree illumination. “For a room of about 12 x 12-ft dimension, the disinfection time is about 10 minutes and 30 minutes for 400 square feet area by positioning the equipment at different places within the room,” said the DRDO in a statement.

This sanitiser switches off on accidental opening of room or human intervention and another salient safety feature of the product is the key to arm operation, said DRDO in a statement.