UV self-cleaning technology – not light-years away
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced hygiene to the top of the world’s agenda, and, as the situation has become part of everyday life – the UK’s first confirmed cases were now seven months ago – leaders across every industry have been searching for solutions to deliver something resembling business as usual in the ‘new normal’. However, delivering your new range of ‘normal’ services while protecting your patrons can be a fine balance.
Self-service kiosks offer a simple solution to deliver services such as lending and returns, including payment of fines and fees while minimising contact with library staff or potentially contaminated items. Although D-Tech has developed contact-free solutions for many of our self-service solutions – click here to find out more – in the current climate one minor drawback of many self-service solutions is that they are operated by touchscreens, creating the issue of how to ensure each screen is kept clean between users.
Believe it or not, the answer could be self-cleaning screens. Thanks to a newly developed cleaning technology, utilising the sanitising properties of ultraviolet (UV) light, a future of self-cleaning surfaces is not light-years away.
What is UV Cleaning and how does it work?
The UV light spectrum is made up of UV-A, B, and C lights. UV-C is the light used in self-cleaning technologies to kill germs, as New York University Langone Medical Center’s Philip Tierno, PhD, a clinical professor in the department of pathology, told NBC News: “This light has a range of effectiveness, which interferes and destroys the nucleic acids of bacteria and other microbes.” Tierno also explained that UV self-cleaning technology works best on smooth surfaces, such as glass screens, as “the light can’t get into nooks and crannies.”
Self-cleaning technology isn’t limited to screens, you can get even get a self-cleaning UV water bottle, which professes to kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses in just over a minute using UV-C lights.
At D-Tech, we haven’t yet incorporated UV self-cleaning technology into our touch-screen solutions, however, we are closely monitoring the effectiveness and applications of this exciting new technology.
In the meantime, we have developed contact-free solutions for many of our touch-screen solutions, including giving users access to library materials simply by scanning their barcoded library ID card or even allow patrons to check out items using their own smartphone.
To find out how D-Tech can help deliver for your patrons, call us today on 01394 420077
