A metal works company in Lilydale has partnered with one of Australia’s leading experts in germicidal ultraviolet disinfection technology to create a simple solution to trolley and shopping basket disinfection.
Rovin Metal Works and UVS Ultra Violet designed a unit that can disinfect up to 10 trolleys or baskets simultaneously, preventing the reproduction of SARS-CoV-2, E. coli, and Salmonella microorganisms, among others.
Robert Gardiner and Vinnie Fraraccio, directors at Rovin, said the idea emerged around five years ago, focusing primarily on the design and manufacturing of shopping trolley vehicles for major supermarkets.
This new project aims to provide supermarkets and shopping centres with a cleaning system effective for 12,000 hours and doesn’t require any form of wipes or sprays.
“We’re hoping to bring it into shopping centres. Every store would have one at the front, and when the trolley staff collect their trolleys, they go through this (unit) and then into the store, and then they’re disinfected and ready to go,” Mr Gardiner said.
“If you had a whole row of shopping trolleys which were disinfected and a row that weren’t disinfected, people would take the disinfected ones every time.
“(The technology) hasn’t really taken off, which is unfortunate, because it’s no mess. You don’t have to use things to wipe it and bits and pieces. It’s the power of these lamps that kills anything on the trolleys.”
UVS Ultra Violet’s Robert Wilson said his father started the company in 1947, and he himself has been working with the technology for 50-odd years.
Germicidal ultraviolet uses UVC, the third sibling in the UV A and B trio.
While UV A and B, in the natural form from sunlight, both reach Earth, UVC doesn’t make it through the Ozone layer.
UV A and B are both germicidal but react at a much slower rate, whereas UVC is effective in seconds.
Mr Wilson said in all the time he’s worked with the technology, there have been no reports of UVC causing skin cancer because it has a much shorter wavelength of light.
However, it can cause a conjunctivitis-type sensation in the eyes and a reddening of the skin if exposed, and therefore, still comes with safety requirements.
When it comes to UV disinfection technology, Mr Wilson said, “very few people in the world actually know how to correctly design” an effective system, but it is being used well in some cases.
“The biggest market for germicidal ultraviolet is for water, and the second biggest market is for secondary sewerage treatment,” he said.
Melbourne Water’s wastewater treatment plant in Carrum uses thousands of ultraviolet lamps on secondary effluent to disinfect it before it is released.
Mr Wilson said the difference between an alcohol based disinfectant and UVC is that “alcohol will denature the cell wall of the organism, break it down and kill it”, but “germicidal ultraviolet light depends on the microorganism and how much energy it has to absorb to be able to kill it”.
That’s why the first question asked when formulating the right system requires an understanding of the microorganisms needing to be controlled, which will then inform the exposure time and the number of lamps.
“All microorganisms, regardless of whether it’s bacteria, viruses, mould, fungus, they absorb energy most readily at the wavelengths of 260 to 265 nanometers,” Mr Wilson said.
“We manufacture the lamps, and these lamps produce 90 odd per cent of their light energy at a wavelength of 254 nanometers.”
Because the lamps, over the 12,000 hours of operation time, lose around 15 to 20 per cent of their energy, Mr Wilson said that has to be calculated into the effective life of them too.
The lamps are made from fused quartz tubing because glass would absorb the ultraviolet light entirely.
Rovin’s prototype is an enclosed unit with an entry and exit point for the trolleys or baskets, using eight germicidal ultraviolet lamps, requiring only four seconds of exposure.
“We use what’s called a parabolic reflector, so all the light that is going out the back of the lamp is reflected to the front of the lamp; otherwise, it’d be lost. So you more than double the output when you use a parabolic reflector,” Mr Wilson said.
When ultraviolet light meets at a central point, the energy output becomes cumulative.
Mr Gardiner said that at the moment, Rovin has built only one unit, with the intention of engaging with supermarkets and shopping centres to trial and test the technology themselves.
Should it take off, the company would be the sole manufacturer of such a unit, and it has the potential to expand to airports or other locations, but Mr Gardiner said they would focus on one thing at a time.
Understanding the rates of flu and other viruses spread at supermarkets, as well as seeing people wearing facemasks and using hand sanitiser, Mr Gardiner said he hopes the germicidal ultraviolet light disinfection could provide an extra layer of protection and peace of mind.
“If there’s another superbug, this kills them all at a microscopic level. So that’s what it does. It renders them useless, so they can’t multiply.”
