Bengaluru: When the first batch of passengers land at the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) on Thursday night at 9.340 pm (IST), their baggage will pass through a UV (ultraviolet) disinfection chamber.
Developed by the Naval Physical & Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), a top-notch Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) wing situated at Thrikkakara near Kochi, the UV system has completed all installation checks ahead of its first test.
NPOL is one of the leading labs of DRDO undertaking several Sonar-linked-technologies for the defence use, especially Indian Navy.
The need for such disinfection system was felt soon after the Centre decided to fly back the stranded Indians from different parts of the world.
CIAL officials felt that disinfecting the baggage in different and sizes using chemical spray wouldn’t be an effective idea.
“We are absolutely happy within the shortest possible time the NPOL scientists developed a system that can take care of our current needs. We have already completed the installation of the UV system to disinfect the baggage. We wanted a safe and efficient system and NPOL has delivered it satisfactorily,” CIAL Director A C K Nair told Onmanorama.
He said the airport staffs have been already trained about the protocols of the use of the UV system.
“Everything is set and our staffs are fully aware of the process, which is simple. The baggage will be shifted from the aircraft ramp to the UV tunnel before they go through the regular scanners ahead of the Customs hold,” says Nair.
Stop Imports
NPOL Director S Vijayan Pillai told Onmanorama that his team grabbed the opportunity to deliver a system that was already being prepared for the use for naval ships and submarines.
“What is being set up at CIAL is an extension of a UV baggage scanner developed for our own use and for Indian Navy as well. Post-COVID, we were ready with a UV system to disinfect the baggage of vendors coming to NPOL,” says Pillai.
According to him, NPOL will be installing a similar system at the entry gate as a precautionary measure.
The scientists had already readied a UV system for ships and submarines to disinfect the ration packs/ baggage before they got on-board.
“For CIAL we made modifications so that it suited the conditions there. The UV bath to the baggage is an additional step before the X-ray scanner. We wanted to install this at the ramp itself that opens out from an aircraft. Owing to vibration issues on the ramp, we decided to fix the UV chamber at the first point soon after the luggage gets unloaded,” Pillai said.
Intensity Trials
He said a prototype of the UV chamber has been already given to the Ernakulum Medical College (EMC), a designated COVID hospital, for intensity trials.
“The doctors at EMC have been tasked to guide us accurately as to how much UV rays are needed to disinfect a piece of baggage so as to combat coronavirus. We are awaiting the results and accordingly will make the modifications,” Pillai said.
He said the private industries in India will be playing a key role in large-scale production of the system.
“Hopefully, a firm like KELTRON should be able to take up the mass production of these systems. The idea is to avoid our dependency on imported systems. We are keen to make Indian products available,” Pillai added.
Based on the inputs from the EMC officials, NPOL will decide on the intensity of UV rays, distance and the number of lamps to be used in the system.
Kannur International Airport officials too have approached NPOL to install a similar device for baggage disinfection.
“We have proved our technology and installed the system within a day. It is now the turn of the industry to call the shots and make this in bulk so that we don’t have to depend on import,” says Pillai.
NPOL has been at the forefront of developing many products to fight coronavirus in the last two months.
The sanitizers made at NPOL are being used by the entire Kochi City Police force. The Southern Naval Command too had received NPOL’s hand sanitizers.
(The writer is an independent aerospace and defence journalist, who blogs at Tarmak007 and tweets @writetake)
