IIT start-up’s 3D printed doffing unit comes as boon for frontline health workers

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<strong>With the threat of the third wave of Covid-19 looming over the world, there are continuous efforts on all fronts to combat it.</strong></p>
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<strong>For instance, an Indian Institute of Technology-Madras start-up Tvasta, has in collaboration with French multinational Saint-Gobain, developed a doffing unit. This unit helps doctors, and other healthcare workers dispose of personal protection equipment kits without contact by using 3D printing technology.</strong></p>
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It takes around 17 days to put this unit in place. The whole unit is printed in separate parts and the 3D models of these parts are uploaded onto a computer. Then it is generated in concrete using the 3D printer located at Tvasta.</p>
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With the process taking four days, the parts are then left to “cure” for a period of seven days. This allows the concrete to set. Transporting the parts to the location where they have to be put up, like a hospital, it is then assembled in about three days’ time. <a href="https://www.edexlive.com/news/2021/jul/23/iit-m-alums-start-up-uses-3d-printing-to-create-doffing-units-for-docs-22757.html">“Time and cost, both are reduced significantly in this process</a>, but most importantly, construction workers are saved from long exposure to Covid-19 at the hospitals,” said Parivarthan Reddy, Tvasta’s Chief Technology Officer in an article that appeared in edexlive.com.</p>
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Explaining to Edexlive Reddy said doffing units are rooms inside hospitals where healthcare providers can dispose of their PPE Kits after a day of treating COVID patients. “However, the units we traditionally have, come with a risk of transmission. The PPE kits are disposed of in a dustbin in the room, which comes with a chance of transmission.”</p>
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In the unit, designed and 3D printed, there are two separate exits. Also there is a chute where doctors can discard their PPE kits which then delivers it in a covered dustbin outside to be cleared later.</p>
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When the healthcare workers have discarded their kits, they can use soap dispensers and sanitisers — non-contact ones. From here they move to an inner room equipped with a shower for a bath.</p>
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Reddy remarked: “The units are also equipped with a UV sanitisation box where doctors can place their change of clothes, phones and wallets for sanitising and safe use. They then leave through the specified exit, so there is negligible contact with any possible germs. Every step is put in place to minimise the risk of transmission.”</p>
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Two of these 3D-printed doffing units have already been launched, while the third is under construction. The former have come up in Chennai – one is located at the Government hospital in Kancheepuram, while the other is at Omandurar Medical College and Hospital in the city.</p>
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The Government Medical College and Hospital in Thiruvalluvar is the third site where the other doffing unit will be coming up.</p>
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A deep-tech start-up Tvasta specialises in concrete 3D printing and was set up in 2016 by Adithya VS, the Chief Executive Officer, Vidyashankar C. Chief Operating Officer and Reddy.</p>