An automated standalone hand wash outdoor deployment unit for infectious disease control

Abstract

The recent global coronal virus pandemic raised increased awareness towards ideal hand hygiene procedures as promoted by World Health Organisation (WHO) and other related health care associations. Compliance to the prescribed procedure has been rather difficult as people gradually get accustomed to this effective hand wash habit, especially with regards the 20 s hand rub process. Traditional hand wash faucets with manual controls are prone to exposing users to recontamination or transmission of infectious deceases. Also, water wastage of 51.32% was observed from empirical studies. The designed automated standalone hand wash unit (ASHU) seeks to solve the contamination problem by running a contactless tap operation, while guiding users through the ideal hand wash procedure with the aid of visual and audio annunciators. Being a standalone unit, solar energy in used to power of the low power design system for uninterrupted outdoor operation, even in unelectrified rural regions. With the suitable level sensors and IoT infrastructure put in place, the unit maintenance operators are able to monitor the fluid levels in with the aid of a custom-built mobile app. Subsequently, the ASHU yields a water wastage potential of only a maximum of 13.31% and a user satisfaction guarantee for 93% of the refill cycle.

Keywords:

• Automation
• flow control
• hand wash
• remote monitoring
• infection prevention and control

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).