I don’t know about you, but I hate touching public bathroom and heavily used door handles. Germs are everywhere, especially at schools and workplaces. Door knobs and handles are full of bacteria from hands after hands touching them. I came across this concept of a Self-Sterilizing Door Handle. This is not a real product yet, but rather an idea. I would love for this idea to come into fruition in the near future. The way that this door handle would work is that when it is not in use, a UV light comes on and will radiate throughout the whole handle. When the door handle is used, the light goes off and the handle is pushed down by the user. There will be a button that can sense what position the handle is in, therefore controlling if the light is on or off. (Seen in photos below.)
The use of the UV light stops the bacteria from growing and spreading. This could ease many people’s minds over the spreading of germs and sicknesses in public places.
There are some arguments against this that I can think of. The first argument is that why use this when there is hand sanitizer and soap and water available? Well, according to the article, bacteria can adapt to hand sanitizer and soaps, thus making it harder and harder to get rid of germs. Hand sanitizer is also extremely drying when used excessively. The other issue could be the use of UV light and skin contact. The UV light automatically turns off when the handle is being used. Also, the time spent opening a door is very small, making the effect of the UV light on the skin non-existent. While this product would have to go through some trials and research, I do believe that the UV light involved will not be an issue.
This concept is even more evidence showing how fast technological products are surrounding our everyday lives. Eventually, I believe that mostly everything around us will have technology involved, making things easier, safer, and cleaner.
http://www.ippinka.com/blog/self-sterilizing-door-handle/
The Self-Sterilizing Door Handle is an interesting idea and would definitely be an excellent contribution to our libraries, hospitals, schools, and airports; assuming costs allow. The comment posted by Claire does bring up a good point. The possible exposure to UV radiation could potentially be more harmful then the exposure to germs. The radiation could also have a larger radius of effect then people may think; things such as cancer, benign tumors, cataracts, and other harmfully genetic changes could occur. Also, depending on the level of protection around the UV lamp and its strength, there may be effects on people that are nearby. These are all factors that must be considered before these Door Handles are brought to the public.
I believe in this UV radiation technology – but perhaps not on something so rudimentary as a door handle yet. There are also simply too many other solutions that are far cheaper in comparison. This cleaning method could be used on a larger scale; for example, perhaps on the mass cleaning of a building or museum overnight while no people are inside. In conclusion, the ideas are excellent to be put to use somewhere else. But for now, lets use some cheaper options in our bathrooms and make sure this is feasible before we start production.
This is such a cool find. It reminds me of when automatic hand dryers and sensory faucets were first introduced to public restrooms. I really like these appliances because I hate thinking of how many germs infect public bathrooms, and I think this invention would make a great addition to our public bathrooms. However, my biggest concern is the UV light. Although you explain how it wouldn’t make direct skin contact and that our contact is very brief, I still don’t think this would be a safe idea. I think germs are less harmful than the possible contact with UV rays. We have so much gear for protecting ourselves from harmful UV rays, such as our sunglasses, clothing, and sunblock, so we shouldn’t voluntarily come so closely in contact with it. Much like a microwave, I think there would be residual radiation from the rays. Although the UV rays would turn off when you put your hand on the handle, I still wouldn’t want to be touching those handles often. I think the idea is great, but there must be another way without having to use harmful UV rays. This article in CNN Money talks about how there is a difference between the harmful UV rays and “Far UV light.” Check it out: http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/03/technology/boeing-self-cleaning-bathroom/
I think this innovation is going to prove extremely helpful to the world population if it is adapted to fit into our everyday lives. When I think about the amount of handles I have touched in my everyday life, and the number of people that have touched that handle, I can’t help but cringe! It would be so great to have peace of mind that although I can do my part to wash my hands, the added protection of UV technology has zapped many of the harmful germs away for me already. This technology is very similar to UV technology used in laboratories, for example communal eye googles are usually placed in a “UV box” after every use and are sanitized for the next user. The addition of a sensor would save energy in the case of this technology. The only issue I see with this technology is the cost, therefore I believe it would be implemented first in hospitals where it is truly needed, and then could spread to places like airports and schools because they have high traffic. Regardless, I hope to see this technology come into fruition as germs become more resistant to our methods of combatting them!
This is one of those cool inventions that was thought about because someone hated doing the task or they wanted to make it easier for someone else to do.
I could see problems with the door handle though. The first problem that I see is humans do not light UV light and we can get radiation poisoning from it so it is not always ideal to have the UV light on at all times even if someone touched the handle. Another one is that the door would have to stay connected to an electric source so possible if there is a power outage, then you might be trapped in the bathroom.
There are also amazing advances to this invention to. One of the positive sis when you touch the door handle, you know that it is sterile and that you will not get germs on your hands. Also, it would be good in airports or high-density areas where you know the place isn’t super clean.
Overall, it is a great idea to promote health safety in bathrooms and this concept should become reality one day. It would help many people out and prevent people from getting sick
Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/uv-door-handle-kills-germs/
Wow this is actually a really cool and innovative idea. Im sure almost no one actually likes touching anything in a a public bathroom, so having the door handle clean itself is a much needed add. It seems kind of ridiculous that after you wash your hands that you have to grab a handle that puts those same germs back onto your hands. I only have one big lingering question and that is cost. How much would this new handle cost. If it cost a considerable amount more than the regular handles than i can see companies being reluctant to upgrade to the newer models. Companies will say that the handles are clean enough or that if you really dont want to touch the handles you just grab a paper towel and use that. Obviously i dont want that type of reasoning to occur so im hoping the cost is low. I can also see this type of technology coming to households which will greatly decrease germs around the board, not just in public bathrooms.
I agree with you. I am the person who really hates to grab the door handle. I don’t know who used it and how dirty his/her hand was.
There are some problem to use the normal door handle. First, there are a lot of germ on people’s hands. The germ is really easy to spread out by touching at it. It could cause flu or other serious sickness. Thus, if the door handle is sterilized by the UV light, it would kill the germ and will be clean from flu or sickness.
Also, there is one more problem. I don’t know who used it so it could be really dirty. When I use bathroom and use the door handle, it feels bad. Because, I just washed my hand but have to grab the dirty handle again. I am sure that some people are not washing their hands after using bathroom.
Therefore, I think that self-sterilizing door handle is really great idea and I hope it to be commercialized soon.
Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/uv-door-handle-kills-germs/
I think that this idea is great for places where handles are used by a large variety of people with various habits. It is definitely something that would be very helpful when it comes to the spread of various illness such as the flu or even the common cold. It would be a good thing to have something that will remove bacteria and various things from the door handle. Although I would have a few questions about having this kind of technology around. One thing I would wonder would be what kinds of bacteria and other things does it stop from growing and spreading since different bacteria are killed by different things. Also this may prevent bacteria from growing and spreading, it could possibly lead to people being more lazy about being sanitary since they would assume that the handle would prevent the spread of anything. Another question would be how would the light be replaced in the handle since it is built in and it would seem like it would be kind of hard to replace often since the UV light would be on when it was not in use. I would also wonder about the amount of energy it would take to keep the light on for long periods of time.