Hand sanitiser monitoring device combats spread of germs
Categories | Cleaning | Hygiene | Infection Control |
Element14, a collaborative social community and electronics store for design engineers and electronics enthusiasts, and Benjamin J. Heckendorn, aka Ben Heck, are helping to combat the spread of germs in hospital settings by modifying a hand sanitiser dispenser into a motion detecting reminder system.
Ben Heck and element14 help combat the spread of germs with a custom hand sanitiser monitoring device in the latest episode of The Ben Heck Show
The project was features in the latest episode of The Ben Heck Show, a a bi-weekly online television series dedicated to the science and art of system and hardware ‘modding’ with a global audience of design engineers, students and electronic enthusiasts. The show is sponsored exclusively by element14, an innovative information portal and eCommunity specifically built for electronic design engineers.
“Automatic hand sanitiser dispensers are great tools, but how do we know if people actually use them?’ asked Heck. “This question turned into an interesting challenge for the show. I was able to mod an everyday hand sanitiser into an active tool to be used in the arsenal to fight the spread of infection in hospitals.”
The idea for the hand sanitiser build came from show fan and physician Arun Mathews to help prevent hospital-acquired infections. Together they built a dispenser featuring enhanced motion sensors, blinking LEDs and an amplifier, which gives hospital staff and patrons an audible reminder to wash their hands. Heck also integrated a parallax propeller development board and SD card to log motion detected data, and a clock to log the time of hand sanitisation compliance or non-compliance.
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