The Lagos State University Faculty of Engineering Covid-19 Response Team, has produced an automated solar-powered hand washing station machine as part of its contributions to the fight against the ravaging Covid-19 Pandemic in the country.
The University’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun, elicited accolades and commendation on the ingenious production of the machine.
He appreciated the team, headed by Dr. Nurudeen Raji, during the presentation and demonstration of the machine which took place at the Vice Chancellor’s Conference Room, New Senate Building, Main Campus recently.
The Prof. of Environmental Law also lauded the Nigeria Society of Engineers Victoria Island branch, under the leadership of Engr. John Audu, for it’s willingness to partner the Faculty of Engineering in sponsoring the production of the machine.
He further charged the Faculty of Engineering team to leverage on the support of the Chairman, Nigeria Society of Engineers Victoria Island branch, to come up with many other laudable research works that will stand the test of time and will equally benefit human kind.
In his words: “We must sustain the collaboration which is already in existence between the two bodies, we need to link up and leverage on the Nigeria Society of Engineers to achieve our dreams.
” We need to have Memorandum of Understanding with Nigeria Society of Engineers for a robust relationship and continuity.”
The Chairman, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Victoria Island branch, Engnr. John Audu, who led the Body’s team to the demonstration, said his branch decided to adopt Faculty of Engineering, LASU in order to carry out research that will provide solutions to problems in our society.
He hinted that such collaborations in the past with other institutions did not yield any positive results but LASU’s case has been a huge success and he was highly impressed with the Faculty of Engineering, and willing to do more.
He appreciated Professor Olumuyiwa Odusanya, the Director, Directorate of Research Management and Innovations, for his contributions towards making the project a reality.
The Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Professor Elkanah Oyetunji, earlier while giving his welcome speech said the project was successful because a lot of challenges were thrown at the Faculty of Engineering to come up with Innovations on the Corona virus pandemic just like other institutions are doing.
Oyetunji said the research team was able to come up with the Automated Solar-Powered Hand Washing Station Machine, which enables three persons to wash their hands at the same time taking into consideration the social distancing regulations of the government. He said the machine will no doubt be very useful where there is a large number of people. He concluded by thanking the NSE Victoria Island branch for sponsoring the prototype of the machine.
The leader of the Faculty of Engineering Covid-19 Research Team, Dr. Nurudeen Raji, explained that the automated solar-powered hand washing station machine does not require any touch from the user, and that it has only one switch to power it on. The machine uses two small rechargeable batteries which can power the system continuously for a year.
Dr Raji further said, that the supply of water to the machine was done through a transparent hose and could be connected to either side of the machine while another hose drains waste water (which may contain coronavirus) to a nearby ground for proper disposal. The machine has LED indicators to visually indicate when it is charging and when it is working. It has a soap dispenser which can serve 1000 users at each refill.
Raji gave a summary of how one can use the automated solar-powered hand washing station machine thus: stretch your hand to the dispenser for soap, move hands to the infrared tap for water, keep hands close to the sensor for continuous supply of water, when done, remove hands and the water stops running. The station will successfully accommodate three users at a time with 1 metre distance in between them.
