After Ranipet district, Vellore has acquired disinfectant sprayer which was put to use in the Municipal Corporation areas by District Collector A. Shanmuga Sundaram on Saturday.
The spread of COVID-19 has led the boilers auxiliaries plant of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL-BAP) in Ranipet to come up with a customised disinfectant sprayer. It was developed by workers from various departments such as engineering, research and development and production and has been tailor-made for the current situation.
“The capacity of the machine has been improved to 2 HP power from the prototype and the design has been modified to consume less water,” said BHEL Executive Director C. Murthy.
Impressed with its performance, the Ranipet district administration has ordered four more machines and those would be delivered in three days, Mr. Murthy said.
“Erode district administration had received two such machines at a cost of ₹3.54 lakh each. We have received more than 25 orders from various districts of Tamil Nadu which we are expecting to supply in a week. We have received enquiries for more than 100 units from various districts, including Chennai,” he added.
Quick delivery
With the relaxation on goods movement announced, the company would get material quickly and the orders would be delivered with perfection, a spokesperson from the company said.
"With a capacity to pump out 1,000 litres of disinfectant in less than an hour, the BHELMISTER is mounted on a mini-goods vehicle and operated through electric power. The spraying length has been defined as eight metres and the swing in levelled at 60 degrees to 70 degrees and its has been tested to the level of 120 degrees," said V. Srinivasan, assistant executive engineer from Vellore City Municipal Corporation.
“The basic principle of the equipment is that water mixed with sanitiser is atomised through a spray nozzle and converted into very fine droplets,” he said and the sprayer machine was powered by a portable genset loaded in the goods vehicle.
