IIT Guwahati students build pocket-sized device 'UV-Astra' to sanitise surfaces amid COVID

In a breakthrough technological development, students at IIT Guwahati designed a nano Ultra-Violet (UV) device 'UV-Astra', a disinfectant device that could sterilize surfaces within three seconds. Designed by civil engineering students named Anant Mittal and Shubham Yennawar, the device is first of its kind that will prove to be the "best affordable personal protection weapon" against the coronavirus that can eliminate it from the surface within seconds providing safety against the infection. 

Speaking about its efficiency, the students said that the device is less than 10 gms and 3 cms long which makes it easily portable, adding, its use reduces the risks to the skin due to the continuous use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers. “UV-Astra', a nano Ultra-Violet (UV) device, can kill viruses and bacteria and sterilize surfaces within three seconds,” the two students stressed. With sterilization rate of 99.9 percent, the device could also disinfect Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for reuse for the medics in their battle against COVID-19 in case of shortage, they insisted.  

"Ultra-violet light is known to disinfect properties. Our solution uses a very low-power UV light that does not cause any harm,” Mittal said. “The device can be powered by mobile phones, and it has a service life of 5,000 hours,” he added. It took the two brilliant students several weeks to create the module for the device and think of its name as 'Astra' which means “weapon” in Hindi as it a device that would combat the coronavirus.

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"We came up with this device which looks like a pen drive with a hard metal case to protect the module, the students said. UV-Astra is set to become the new normal. It is an all-time protection device. Now no one needs to worry about touching surfaces when he or she steps out of homes," IIT Guwahati student Mittal said.

Earlier designed a drone

Speaking about the most challenging part in designing the unique device, the students said that UV sterilization to be made affordable and portable for everyone was hard. RacerFly team, which works for Mittal, had earlier designed a drone that had an automatic sprayer embedded in it which could be used to sanitize large areas including parks and footpaths within 15 minutes. Director of the institute, T G Sitharam, said IIT-Guwahati community, including the faculty, staff, students, and alumni worked extremely hard towards the innovation of devices and technology in the battle against the COVID-19 disease. 

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(With Inputs From PTI)