Coronavirus Control Technologies

If we turn to international experience, we can see that in many countries the method of aerosol spraying is actively used to combat coronavirus. Technically, this is done by various means, their diversity is quite large. In this review, we present the most common of them.

Let's start with specialized disinfecting booths and tunnels that can be found on the streets of China, Vietnam and other countries.


Outdoor cab for disinfection. Vietnam.

It is enough for a person to simply enter the cabin and stand in it for several seconds for disinfection. For Vietnamese booths employed active ingredient based on the ionized salt solution. The cabin has a modular design and is capable of handling up to 1000 people per day.

The designs of the tunnels are different, ranging from more thorough ones, like the one that was built in Shanghai and was published many times in the media , ending with very temporary ones. The latter are a conventional metal frame, sheathed with a film with aerosol sprays inside. It is reported that in 15-20 seconds in such a tunnel a person can be disinfected by 90%.


The tunnel in China.


India.

The places of installation of such structures, which is quite obvious, are the most crowded areas: walk-through enterprises, busy streets, stops of urban vehicles.
The next group is various mobile spraying devices. To begin with, it is worth mentioning ordinary sprayers, which can be bought at a hardware store.



The following and more commonly used solutions are sprayers / spray guns in which the disinfectant is supplied under high pressure. They are also different and it depends on the conditions of use and the type of substance used. For example, Russian specialists in northern Italy used the systems shown in the photo below. It is reported that the active solution in this case was 70% ethyl alcohol.


Treatment of boarding houses in the north of Italy.

From China, a lot of futuristic photos came in with such devices:


Processing a movie theater in Wuhan (China).

Here, the active substance is chlorine dioxide, according to Reuters.



International companies have reported strong disinfectant properties of this substance. It is also used for water purification and for disinfection in medicine. It is appropriate to note that Russia also has its own development of a disinfectant based on it, which also received high marks from specialists.

The next group are mobile devices, which are a cross between portable atomizers and larger aerosol atomization devices that are placed on vehicles. These devices can be moved from room to room, used for processing rooms , inside vehicles, and so on. It is reported that some complexes are also able to work in several modes, including fine dispersion aerosol - “dry fog” (DRY FOG).




Dry fog disinfection of the bus.

This operating mode is characterized byhigh penetration of the disinfectant, as well as its harmlessness to electronics. The “dry fog” aerosol has a particle size of 3.5 to 10 microns, due to which the substance is able to effectively fill the entire volume of the treated room by disinfecting air and surfaces at the same time. This technology has already proven itself for disinfection in medical institutions.


The formation of "dry fog" in the room. Particle size


illustration of "dry fog".

Some of these devices can work offline and thereby minimize staff involvement, freeing up time and reducing the risk of potential errors.

The following systems are “aerosol trucks,” as they are often called in foreign media. Asian news outlets quite actively published photos and videos of aerosol spray trucks in cities. They could be found in China, South Korea and other countries. It is worth clarifying that such a technique became known long before the coronavirus pandemic; trucks were used to spray water in the air in order to combat urban smog.


Smog control truck in Guangzhou in 2014.

Today, these devices have been retrained for spraying disinfectant solutions. For example, these trucks were engaged in disinfection Wuhan (China) during the peak of the epidemic in mid-February 2020.


Aerosol spraying in Wuhan in 2020.

Such "Aerosol Trucks" remain, for the most part, a feature of Asian countries and it is unlikely that you will meet them on the streets of Europe or the United States. However, other automotive equipment is used here, for example, filling stations or other street cleaning machines.


Filling equipment of South Korea.


Smaller equipment on the streets of China.

The next group included UAVs and remote-controlled robots. The issue of automation is very relevant in this context, because the operator can control spray tools remotely, reducing the need for people to enter contaminated areas.

XAG China Corporation - A leading global manufacturer of agricultural drones activelyparticipated in disinfection activities in China.


Drones XAG.

The maximum take-off weight of XAG drones can reach up to 48 kg., And the volume of the tank for spraying is 20 liters. UAVs are capable of operating in difficult terrain and are autonomous. All this makes them good applicants for this work.
That's what told the director of China Investment Connections Ltd. Robert Pearson on the use of XAG drones in China:

“When COVID-19 began its proliferation, they (XAG) were at the forefront of preventative measures in China and have continuously disinfected areas there for the past eight weeks. They spray more than 902 million square meters in 20 provinces of China and show good results. ”

UAVs were used not only in China, but also in other countries, for example, in Spain or Mexico.

Ground robots for aerosol spraying are another example of robotic technology. Photos of such devices can be found in various online publications .


A robot spraying a disinfectant moves around a residential area of ​​the city.

China Daily wrote that more than 30 disinfection robots designed and manufactured at the Shanghai-based facility were used in large hospitals in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak of coronavirus.


A patrol robot in Shenyang Hospital, China, checks the temperature and is capable of aerosol disinfection of rooms.

Robot maker Siasunhanded over 21 robots to Shenyang medical facilities, and Qingdao Webull Intelligent Technology donated 30 disinfection robots to work in six hospitals in Qingdao and Rizhao. These and other robots were used, including for disinfection in isolation wards and intensive care units, reducing the risk of infection of medical personnel.