By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, washing hands with soaps and hand sanitisers recurrently is a precautionary measure taken to stop the spread of the virus. To make the process easier, Alphavogue, a startup by a group of engineers from the city, has come up with an automatic hand sanitiser dispenser which has a larger capacity and can be refilled depending on the requirement. Abhijith Kumar Meenakumari, a graduate from Government College of Engineering, Barton Hill, and the founder of Alphavogue, says that the college had launched a battery-run hand sanitiser dispenser which was expensive with a capacity less than 1,000 ml as part of ‘Break the Chain’ initiative. “Also, the hand sanitiser dispenser available online seemed inadequate. It was then our college principal, K Suresh, suggested the idea to make a low-budget hand sanitiser dispenser,” says Abhijith. The Alphavogue team also comprises two other undergraduates–Wazeer and Manu and 15 part-time interns. “We were asked to make the dispenser within three days. The attempt was successful. We made a dispenser with a capacity of 2.5 litres which costs Rs 3,500,” says Abhijith. According to Abhijith, this automatic hand sanitiser dispenser is a more convenient method of sanitising and can either be mounted on the wall or placed on a table. The microcontroller placed at the core of the dispenser controls the functioning of the sanitiser with the aid of a motor, pump and infrared sensor. The latter senses the hand movement and the pump is directed in dispensing the sanitiser on to the hands. The machine requires electricity. “We are working on the fabrication of the dispenser that works on battery–It will commence in the coming days as we are unable to procure the materials due to the lockdown,” said Abhijith. Carbonkraft which comes under Alphavogue startup headed by Abhijith in association with the NGO Thanal had earlier launched a smart waste management initiative for Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.

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