Self-sterilizing door handle

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The public toilet door handles are certainly one of the dirtiest spots in the world. The hands of all the people who have been there have landed on it. A public toilet door handle contains, average, 1000 colonies per millimeter of infectious bacteria. And it’s huge!

But would not it be extraordinary if these nests with germs, that are the door handles, could have a system of self-cleaning that would get rid of bacteria?

This question, 2 young teenagers from Hong Kong have asked. And they even managed to find a solution, inventing a self-cleaning door handle, which exploits the kinetic energy of door movement.

Sun Ming Wong, 17, and King Pong Li, 18, have developed an anti-bacterial door handle that generates all the energy needed for its operation since the door moves. Titanium Oxide is known as one of the best anti-bacterial agents that exist, our two inventors of genius, have decided to coat the handle of this mineral, and to activate its anti-bacterial properties through an exhibition of UV light. it is important to note that UV rays boost the anti-germ properties of Titanium Oxide.

In order to have a permanent UV contribution, and thus increase the efficiency of the mineral, the handle has been designed in the form of a transparent glass cylinder. This cylinder is held at both ends by 2 metal rings. An LED bulb is incorporated inside the handle, it will be the latter that will emit UV rays. And to operate this LED bulb, the handle is equipped with a kind of gear that collects and the kinetic energy produced by the different movements of the door.

During the laboratory testing phases, this ingenious system was able to eliminate 99.8% of the bacteria. In other words, this is a real success because they have managed to find the best way to have clean door handles permanently, that consume no fossil energy, and that pose no danger to health. In addition, the concept is very sustainable as no detergent will have to be used to clean those door handles. What about the cost? Know that the calculations of our young inventors, the manufacture of a unit would cost only $ 13. Which, let’s face it, is not very expensive paid to no longer have to worry when you touch a door handle whatsoever, since it is immediately cleaned and disinfected after a small movement of the door .

The in-shop price is approximately EUR 70, which is an affordable price when it comes to home furniture and an even better price for health.

In addition, this kind of design has become fashionable.

Designer: Choi Bomi

 

Sources:

http://www.yankodesign.com/2010/12/16/what-a-sterile-door/

https://tomorrowsgadgets.wordpress.com/sterilizing-door-handle/

https://prezi.com/pnqhcz7xz44n/auto-sterlizing-door-handle/

https://inhabitat.com/chinese-teens-create-13-door-handle-that-instantly-kills-99-8-germs-on-contact/

 

One thought on “Self-sterilizing door handle

  1. Yannick Andrien says:

    Very good invention! A lot of people usually wash their hands before leaving the toilet room but this is needless if they get bacterias back 10 seconds after “eliminating” these bacterias. And sometimes, I don’t touch the door handle for fear to not get my hands “dirty” of bad bacterias.
    Moreover, a lot of diaseases are spreading through the toilet rooms’ doors, so this anti-bacteria door handle could decrease the number of contagious illnesses in extremely busy places.
    However, you said that this technology has a price (70€) and I’m not sure that a lot of public administrations or companies are ready to pay extra money just for healthier door handles.

Leave a Reply

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on this website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.