Read Original Article: Engineering News
By Natasha Odendaal
Hose and fittings manufacturer Jachris is producing an automated mist sanitising safety tunnel that offers a frontline defence against Covid-19 and enables companies to “get back to business” safely.
The SpraySAFE Mist Sanitising Safety Tunnel, used in conjunction with other sanitising and good hygiene strategies, properly sanitises staff, customers, commuters, shoppers and travellers at mass entry and exit points to office buildings, factories, mines, malls, train and bus stations, taxi ranks, airports and banks, besides others.
The 2m tunnel is set in a V-shape trajectory above the shoulders, with an infrared sensor activating when an individual approaches, to mist coat an individual’s arms and hands, with a maximum exposure of 35 ml of sanitiser a person, a portion of which will be distributed evenly over the individual’s entire body and drying soon after exit.
The system, which can also be set to manual dosing and run on preset timing intervals, sanitises with a maximum flow rate of 4.2 ℓ an hour through each of the six nozzles for a total volume output of 25.2 ℓ an hour or 7 ml of sanitiser a second.
“The SpraySAFE system atomises the liquid sanitising agent into tiny droplets, creating a fine mist that coats the individual’s hands, arms and body without making the individual wet,” explained Jachris CEO Warwick Bouwer.
“Apart from using expensive sanitising agents very efficiently, it wastes very little and leaves no liquid residue on the floor and does not drench the individual beyond what is required in order to sanitise,” he told Engineering News.
The high-pressure 70 bar/1 000 psi mist system atomises sanitiser similar to the method used in a hand spray bottle, with the atomisation process ensuring that exceptionally low volumes of liquid are dispersed evenly and penetrate hard to reach places.
“The quality of our patented pump system used in conjunction with our high-pressure nozzles is specifically designed for mist creation or the atomisation of liquid. It can endure consistent use, but still function well when being turned on and off several hundred times per day, as the case may be in applications such as this.”
Further, the pump has an onboard reservoir which, when depleted, automatically switches the system off and avoids running the pump dry and damaging it.
The system can be used with any liquid sanitising agent, however, Jachris also offers various sanitising agents, including 70% ethanol-based sanitiser, Vita Aquaox, Vantocil IB Antimicrobial and soluble SteriScope tablets, which are ideal for transporting over longer distances.
“We believe that automated sanitising of people at mass entry and exit points will be standard practice in various areas of our everyday lives for the foreseeable future and Jachris is well positioned to serve this market now and well into the future,” Bouwer commented.
“We effectively combined the product and expertise in our 44-year-old hose and coupling business with those in our 12-year-old misting business, the Misting Company, to conceptualise, design, manufacture and commercialise SpraySAFE.”
The Springs-based firm, which tested the proof-of-concept system on April 9, manufactures the systems at a rate of 50 units a day, with a current two-week lead time.
“We fine-tuned our offering, marketed the concept and started manufacturing on April 14,” he said, adding that the company imports its patented high-pressure misting pumps from Taiwan.
“To this end, our lead time is two weeks, but we are looking to reduce that lead time to 2 to 3 days over the coming month and eventually ex-stock (immediate stockholding availability) as the manufacturer of our pumps catches up with our manufacturing ability for the balance of the system’s components,” he explained.
The system is also flat-packed for ease of transport and assembly, with an easy-to-follow, printed instruction manual, as well as a YouTube video walking through the easy assembly process step-by-step.
“We designed the system to be modular and flat-packed to ensure ease and efficiency in both distribution and assembly.”
In addition, the company offers assembly nationwide, as well as in certain African countries where it has businesses, including Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Mauritania.
“We have quoted on almost 10 000 units and secured orders for just over 500 units, but we anticipate demand to increase as business and society starts regaining a level of normalcy,” Bouwer continued.
Further, in addition to the mist safety tunnel range, Jachris also stocks the SpraySAFE-ulv Fogger, a handheld fogging device that atomises any sanitiser or disinfectant, to disinfect small or large spaces, such as buses, taxis, factories, offices, hotels, train stations and airports.
Other Covid-19 support products include KN95 respirators and the locally-manufactured DoorSAFE handless door opening device.
The KN95 respirators are imported directly from a manufacturer in China and are produced at a rate of four-million units a day in accordance with the N-95 and FFP2 specifications from the US and Europe respectively.
Jachris also manufactures DoorSAFE devices in-house, offering users an inexpensive way of avoiding hand contact when opening doors.