Shillong, June 16: A team of experts from multidisciplinary areas including scientists, doctors and industrialists has developed a tunnel sanitizer based automatic temperature controller device to disinfect people and protect against infection from Novel Coronavirus after more than three months of research, discussions, trials and testing, even as the machine has been made compact and cost effective.

“The tunnel is designed with a view to reduce the time of sanitization in places where there are people entering in large numbers such as religious gatherings, educational institutions, hospitals,” says Prof. Animesh Mishra of North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), Shillong.

He says that the sanitization process is effective as the person walks through the tunnel and disinfectants are sprayed all over from different angles so that the whole body can be sanitized, Prof. Mishra said, adding that people passing are sprayed with a disinfectant solution coming out of a high pressure air compressor.

“The disinfectant is an eco-friendly, multi-purpose microbiocide solution which is effective to disinfect different bacterial spores, viruses, protozoa, fungi etc,” he explains, adding that the disinfecting process can be completed in 3-4 seconds.

Stating that the tunnel does not require human control and operates with the help of ultrasonic sensors and microcontrollers, Prof. Mishra says the tunnel has two chambers with three different levels of disinfection.

“In the second chamber, the person entering the tunnel experiences a hot air blast at 50˚ Centigrade. This is to make sure that any bacteria/viruses that could have survived during the disinfectant spray process would be killed through the heat in the second chamber and followed by exposure of far UVC light with a wavelength ranging from 207 to 222 nm that has capability to kill the viruses and is considered to be safe for the human eyes and skin.

“The tunnel will be equipped with a thermal scanner at the entrance. Any person detected with temperature higher than the normal body temperature will not be allowed to enter the premises and through the tunnel,” he says.