Door handle sterilisation system

Kurzfassung

An Irish product designer has developed and patented a door handle design that automatically rotates the contact portion of the handle through a sterilising unit each time the door is opened and closed. The system is developed to a prototype stage and the developer is seeking manufacturing partners to manufacture under license and market the product.

Details

Door handles are recognised cross contamination points for the spread of germs. Other than introducing automatic door opening systems, physical contact with doors and door furniture is an unavoidable fact of life in all public locations such as hospitals, hotels, commercial and manufacturing establishments etc.

Washrooms are viewed as particular locations of concern. An Irish product designer has developed, patent protected and prototyped a design for a door handle unit to address this issue.

The unit in question uses the opening and closing action of the door itself to rotate a circular handle through a sterilising solution or a wiper seal mechanism leaves the door handle dry to the touch germ and residue free, completely sterilised and ready for the next user.

The developer does not have a manufacturing capability and is seeking an industrial partner to license the technology for manufacture and bring it to market.

Innovative Aspects:
The innovative aspects of this technology include:
- This development specifically targets and addresses the issues with a known
source of cross contamination through contact.
- Uses no external power source but is powered by the opening and closing
action of the door itself.
- Can be retrofitted to an existing door without major disruption or lost time.

Main benefits of this technology are:
- Reduces cross contamination and infection by contact with door handles. This
is a recognised problem area for contamination and spread of infection.
- Is a robust, easily maintained design.
- Can be retrofitted to existing doors.
- “Stand alone” device requiring no external or battery power to operate.
- The sanitised handle is dry to the touch without excess residual sanitising
fluid present after the process. This results in easier acceptance by users.
- This operates every time the door is operated so it provides greater
protection than timed sanitising operations.

This device has potential beyond the obvious washroom locations in hospital and healthcare markets. It is applicable to any location where large numbers of people pass through a doorway and make contact with the handle. This could include locations like manufacturing establishments where cleanliness is a high priority (eg Food or Pharma processors) and could extend as far as high street retail outlets or restaurants.