IIT Kanpur develops disinfector that can sanitize a 100-sq-ft room in 15 minutes: Report

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has come up with an ultraviolet sanitizing solution to disinfect hospitals, hotels, malls and other such high-risk places, the Business Standard has reported.

According to the report, SHUDH (Smartphone-operated Handy Ultraviolet Disinfection Helper) can disinfect a 100-sq-feet room in 15 minutes.

The prototype, according to the newspaper, can be monitored from a distance and comprises six UV lights of 15 watts each. It has been developed by a team of researchers, including Prof J Ramkumar, Amandeep Singh and Shivam Sachan at the Imagineering Laboratory at the premiere institute.

"During this pandemic situation, people are skeptical about touching papers, tables, chairs etc in the rooms, hotels, halls, hospitals etc. So we have come up with an innovation. This product can be attached to a mobile vehicle which can be operated using a smartphone. We have also developed a mobile app," Professor Ramkumar said.

"By doing some simple experiments, we have figured out that a 10X10 ft room can be disinfected in 15 minutes. The phone will help you switch the device on and off. We have used Bluetooth for the purpose," he added.

After the outbreak of COVID-19 in India, IIT Kanpur has planned and developed several products that can help curb the spread of infection. In March, for instance, researchers at the institute were in process of developing portable ventilators significantly cheaper than the ones available in the market.

It had also created a disinfectant tunnel in May.