NIT develops currency, credit card sanitiser

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 6

Scientists at Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) have come up with a multipurpose article sanitiser, which uses UV radiations to kill microbial pathogens from any surface. This is the fourth innovation by the institute since the spread of Covid.

Dr LK Awasthi, Director of the institute, and Dr Kuldeep Singh Nagla, Associate Professor, Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering, said the sanitiser is in the form of a cabin with UV lights fitted on the top as well as the bottom. The device can be used for sanitising paper, files, masks, gloves, keys, currency notes and credit cards.

“While there are other UV-gadgets available in the market, our product has some additional features. There are perforated, acrylic sheets fitted inside with lights in such angles that the device will sanitise the surfaces of the items kept inside it from all 360 degrees. It is completely safe for humans and even children can use it because there will be no exposure for the user. This is because when the drawer is opened, the UV light gets automatically shut. Our device also has a timer fitted on the top and it will stop when the pre-set time gets over, which can be 30 seconds, 40 seconds or so on, depending on the item and its size kept inside. We have also fitted a fan inside to regulate the temperature for safety of currency and cards,” said Dr Nagla.