'Kill virus by turning on the light!'

Sirisha Chakravarthy, founder of Neo Inventronix in Hyderabad, has come up with an innovative tool called ‘Germicidal Lamp’ to help fight the virus. Sirisha claims that the light emitted through the lamp is enough to contain the spread of the virus.

Hyderabad: These days, all that anyone can think of is nothing but the ways and means of getting rid of the deadly virus – Corona. As a strategy towards finding a solution, while some are dabbing sanitizers every now on their hands, others are putting masks on their faces and a few others are wearing face-shields.

All of them are however, waiting for a much safer version of safety measures. For such people, the device brought in by Sirisha Chakravarthy of Hyderabad, seems to be a most-awaited source of preventive measure of Corona.

While the frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, sanitary workers and others are all put up in the forefront of the war on Corona, a few others are looking for innovative ways to help, as part of their contribution in the fight, being at the back-end.

Sirisha Chakravarthy, founder of Neo Inventronix, Hyderabad, is one step ahead in this endeavor.

‘Germicidal Lamp’ is an innovative tool for sterilizing the corona virus. It is said that this particular device can be lightened and the light thus emitted is enough to contain the spread of the virus. Also, this device doesn’t even use any chemical as such.

Sirisha further explained that this device is capable of destroying any type of virus and bacteria in an area of ​​approximately 1,000 square feet in just about 15 minutes.

She further shares on how her organization had come about designing this device, "I completed BSc. I worked in the medical manufacturing industry for fifteen years. As part of ‘Startup India - Make India’ movement, I have applied to the Women Entrepreneurship Hub (WE- Hub) launched by the Government of Telangana, requesting for an order on manufacture and supply of LED bulbs and street lamps. After getting the required permissions, the company was set up in the premises of WE-Hub. But I wanted to come up with something more innovative to sustain the competitive market that we are in."

"In fact, the effect of Corona had not yet started in India by the time this idea had been devised. It was the thought that came to us, as to fight the general bacteria and viruses said to be spreading across the world, which gave rise to this innovative idea. I thought about technology that can be used to kill viruses and bacteria. Since my husband hails from an electrical engineering background, we discussed over all the possibilities and have come up with various investigations. We understood that the Ultraviolet rays have the ability to kill bacteria and viruses."

"However, it is not safe to use the ultraviolet rays exclusively. Hence, we tried adjusting the severity of the UV rays by using the Ozonisation procedure in addition to other technical methods and made it good to use. The end result is the innovation of the Germi-Ban device!! However, this entire process did not happen as simply as it may sound.”

From the prototype stage, it took forty days to fully manufacture the ‘Germi-Ban’ device. During the first stage of manufacturing they encountered a construction defect. A few more attempts had to be made, as a result. Eventually the remote-assisted device was fully manufactured. The device was designed to be installed in Isolation Centres and hospitals.

“The central government has asked different companies to come up with solutions for corona eradication. ALEAP (Atal Incubation Centre showcased this product on our behalf. Niti Aayog, who examined this, praised our device as 'Excellent Product'. This is one of the top ten ideas that have reached the final round amongst nearly about 1000 entries in competitions held by organizations like Startup India and Invest India," said Sirisha.

"The Atal Innovation Department of Biotechnology has recognized it as a safe device for the specific utilizations. Soon, the CCMB virus diagnosis test also will be conducted. This product we made is currently not suitable for indoors. We are slowly navigating towards the manufacture of Domestic Air Stabilizers and Robotic Germi-Beams, to suit the domestic requirements of the people," Sirisha added.