Fall 2020 Design I Final Competition
Section I: Easy-J
Solution Summary: How might we make restaurants safer for the capacities of 50-250 people? Providing efficient sanitization at restaurant entrances
Team Members: Alisher Ramazanov, Joseph Borman, Emily Hepperlen, Samuel Sharp, Yujin Kim
Instructor: Patricia Littman
Hey Team Easy-J, this is an interesting idea! I just wanted to clarify a few things. This system will sanitize the air, not hands or people as the walk in to the restaurant, right? Is the idea that the sanitation spray will be sprayed any time someone walks by it? Is the device inside the air curtain and sanitizes the air before it comes out or does it spray outside of the air curtain? And if so is it safe if someone breathes it in?
Hello
This system will be used to sanitize people as they walk through. People who walk through it will swipe their hand by the motion sensor 3 times if they with to be sanitized. Our device is a two part device which will be mounted on the outside of the air curtain. The first part is the HEPA filter that is attached to the intake of the air curtain. And the second is the spray system that will be mounted at the bottom where the air comes out. The spray that we will be using is called envirocleanse-A. It is made up of hypochlorous acid which is completely safe for humans to inhale.
Unique idea – Couple of questions
1) Air curtains are typically installed in an open door setting like a large big box store that does not want doors impeding entry/exit. How many restaurants have this configuration?
2) What is the recommended concentration (ppm) of the disinfectant required to be effective?
3) What is the recommended airflow (cfm)air movement required to be effective?
4) What disinfectant are you recommending? Is it safe for inhalation and at what concentration? Will it be an eye irritant?
5) Restaurants have food items open to the air. Is the disinfectant safe on the food? Is it FDA approved?
6) Will there be an odor associated with the disinfectant? Restaurants want all smells to be associated with food not a cleaning solution
7) How much will the unit cost for installation and maintenance?
Hello,
To answer your first question, I was unable to find any information on how many are configured this way. I do know however, that in Arizona there are quite a few restaurants configured this way due to the heat they get in the summer. I am unable to find that number for you though.
To answer the second question, the solution is effective starting at 60ppm.
3) The spray system would only be activated if the person walking in or out of the store used the motion sensor to indicate that they wanted it to be used on them. Air curtains give off about 600-800 cfm. The spray system itself would only add a small fraction of additional compressed air as it is used to atomized the liquid disinfectant before leaving the nozzle.
To answer questions four, five, and six Envirocleanse-A, the disinfectant we thought was suitable for this application, is odor-free. It is also FDA approved and it is completely safe for people to inhale and will not cause eye irritation. If somebody is concerned about the solution, the do have to option to not use the spray. Even though they might not use the spray, all of the air will go through our HEPA filter attachment.
To answer your final question the whole system will cost about $125. The HEPA filter rarely have to be replaced and are also washable. But if the customer chooses to replace the filter rather than wash it, it will only cost about $10 to replace. The envirocleanse replacement will cost about $8 and should last about 2-3 weeks depending on how many customers decide to use the disinfectant.
Thank you for the questions.
Hi Team Easy-J, this is certainly a relevant problem in our current situation. I was interested to hear more about your validation of the statement that the device is both safe and effective. Was the team able to gather evidence that the sanitizing solution at specified concentrations will be effective at mitigating airborne viral spread? And, at these same concentrations, would it be safe for customers (and especially employees since they will have longer exposure times) to inhale? Also, I was hoping for more clarification on the hand-motion activation system- is that for the purposes of the prototype, or would the full scale model also use a hand motion activated system? Thanks!
Hello,
The solution we are using is called Envirocleanse-A. It is made up of hypochlorous acid which is effective for killing the virus starting at 60ppm. Hypochlorous acid is completely safe for humans to breath. It is so safe, it is even used as mouth rinse and used for wound cleaning. The hand motion sensor is there for people walking through the doorway to indicate whether or not they want to be misted with disinfectant. If they do not want to be misted, they can simply walk through. The spray system is only used if the costumer indicates that they want it but our filter system will always be filtering the air.
Thank you for the questions.