Design And Construction Of A Solar Powered Automatic Hand-Dryer

ABSTRACT

There are many diseases which are contagious like monkey pox and Ebola virus and their major mode of transmitting these diseases is through contact with an infected person especially by touching such persons; hence, washing/sanitizing of hands has become a standard preventive practice over the years. One effective means of hand sanitization is the use of a hand-dryer which not only dries a wet hand after washing but also has the ability to kill germs through the hot air of about 53⁰C it produces. Available hand-dryers are AC powered; as such, they cannot be used in areas where there is no electricity or where electricity supply is erratic like many sub-Saharan African countries. Consequently, the design and implementation of a solar powered hand-dryer becomes imperative since these deadly diseases have no known cure at the moment but can be prevented by applying appropriate preventive measures. The design contains primarily two sections-the solar power section which comprises circuits /components that function together to charge the batteries that power the hand-dryer system, and the hand-dryer section that comprises the transmitter/ receiver circuit, the heater, the fan and other components that work together to make the hand-dryer section function properly. Every stage of the design was tested for performance before the system was assembled. The design was implemented and it functioned according to design objective.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
• PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT
• SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
• LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT
• APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT
• BENEFITS OF THIS DESIGN
• METHODOLOGY
• PROJECT ORGANIZATION

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

• REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF HAND DRYERS VS. PAPER TOWELS
• HOW GERMS SPREAD
• REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
• HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF SOLAR CELLS
• THEORY OF SOLAR CELLS

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

• MATERIALS AND METHOD
• SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
• SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM
• SOLAR POWER PACK
• MATERIALS USED
• DESIGN AND CONNECTION
• ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS
• SYSTEM CODE
• DESCRIPTION OF MAJOR COMPONENTS USED

CHAPTER FOUR

• RESULT AND DISCUSSION

CHAPTER FIVE

• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATION
• REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                        INTRODUCTION

1.1                                           BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In recent times, the outbreak and the concomitant spread of Monkey pox and Ebola virus diseases across some countries of sub-Saharan Africa in electrifying waves was terrifying. The countries worst hit are Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria. The outbreaks which were earlier recorded in 1953 and contained suddenly resurfaced in 2013 and 2017 respectively but to this day, the medical profession has not been able to proffer a cure to these deadly diseases.

The Monkey virus was first discovered in 1959 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of money kept for research, hence the name “monkey pox” (Sola, 2017). The first recorded human case of money pox was recorded in 1970 of Congo in sub-Saharan Africa. The current outbreak in Nigeria is of West Africa Origin and associated with milder disease, fewer deaths and limited human-to-human transmission. The Ebola outbreak in sub-Saharan Africa was first reported in March, 2014 and rapidly became the deadliest occurrence of the disease since its discovery in 1979, and at the moment the medical profession has not proffered cure to these deadly diseases, only preventive measures (sanitation) are still being applied. A popular preventive measure taken to curb the spread of diseases from time immemorial is hand-washing. In eateries, hotels and other institutions where hand-washing is practiced, a hand dryer which is electrically operated is installed to replace the use of public hand towels which becomes a breeding ground for diseases after a time. This has helped in no small way in curbing the spread of diseases. However with the present poor developmental state of sub-Saharan region of Africa and the failure of government to provide modern infrastructures  and   steady  power  supply  in  towns/cities, rural areas and public toilets/baths that are either not connected to the national grid or who do not have alternative energy sources when there is power outage, benefiting from the use of the hand-dryer after washing becomes impossible. To this end, the designing, implementation and deployment of a solar powered hand dryer system becomes absolutely imperative for a proper hand sanitation which will ultimately curb/combat the spread of communicable diseases especially, ebola and monkey pox diseases to mention but a few. The hand-dryer operates within 50⁰C-65⁰C, the temperature range that is high enough to kill germs. Several studies have been carried out over five decades to investigate the effectiveness of hand drying systems in the content of skin hygiene. (Benol, 2007) carried out a comparative study on various hand drying systems with regards to their hygiene performance. And the various results obtained were translated and applied to product design context. (Matthews and Newsom 1987) examined the bacterial aerosols released from hands during hot air dryer usage, compared with those released by paper towels.

Impression plates-hand imprints on agar plates after drying revealed that similar numbers of bacteria were present in the hand by either methods, and that hot air hand dryers appear safer from bacteriological viewpoint. (Ansari et al., 1991) carried out a comparative study of the efficiencies of paper, cloth and electric warm air drying in eliminating viruses and bacteria from washed hands and discovered that, irrespective of the hand-washing agent used, the electric air drying system produced the highest reduction in numbers of both viruses and bacteria. (Hareendran,2014) constructed automatic hand dryer machine with temperature display, to eliminate the dangers and problems associated with the manual process, like contracting diseases with the use of the same hand towels by many people in restaurants and our health care facilities. He designed his system with active and passive component sensors (LM35 & LDR). His work was pure hand-wired, no use of micro program controls. (Stephen, 2018) the author designed a microcontroller based automatic hand dryer system. In his design he used both hardware and software, the hardware components are coordinated by AT89S51 microcontroller chip while the programs are embedded in the chip. Hand hygiene has the potential to prevent diseases and reduce health care associated infections. And proper drying of hands after washing is an essential component of effective hand hygiene procedures. In view of the above (Cunrui et al., 2012) carried out a systematic review of research works and analyzed the hygienic efficacy of different hand drying methods. (Montalbol et al., 2011) carried out a study that compared seven different hand-drying methods by performing life cycle analysis on each-system. Their work showed that the hot air dryer is most suitable. Rochester Institute of Technology investigated the environmental impacts of paper towels versus those of hand dryers in a college campus via life cycle analysis. Their findings showed that the use of the Dyson dryer reduced the environmental impact and carbon footprint and also more economical. The objective of this paper is to design a solar powered automatic hand- dryer to combat the spread of diseases such as Ebola and Monkey pox diseases.

1.2                                                   PROBLEM STATEMENT

Due to higher level of spreading of diseases such as corona virus, Ebola and other contagious diseases, wasting and littering of paper towel in our environment after drying : constant washing and drying of hands was recommended which is to be carried out without making contact with drying devices as recommended by the world health organization (WHO). Because of this problem of virus spreading this device was invented to solve the problem of making contact with the drying machine and a reliable hand drying means.

1.3                                              OBJECTIVES OF THE DESIGN

The main aim of this work is build a device that can be used to control the spread of contagious diseases. At the end of this work the following objectives shall be achieved:

1. To enhance the level of hygiene wherever
2. To increase the level of awareness of people as regards to the proper drying of hands in accordance with the policy of the National Orientation Agency in Nigeria.
3. To solve a considerable fraction of the problems associated with drying of hands, so as to reduce the risk of disease transfer, between

1.4                                                  PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of hand dryer is to keep to keep ourselves clean and free from possible danger diseases.

1.5                                                   SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

The solar wash machine is powered by a sensor which allows an individual to dry hands without touch the dryer. The automatic hand drying resumes automatically whenever hand is place at the outlet of the blower.

1.6                                              APPLICATION OF THE STUDY

This device can be used in places like:

1. government ministries and agencies,
2. worship places (like mosque and churches),

• markets,

1. homes
2. institutions, etc.

1.7                                                BENEFITS OF THIS DESIGN

Hygiene: drying hands thoroughly is effective in preventing the spread of germs.

Less Maintenance: Automatic solar powered hand drying machine require very little maintenance, and with the development of no-touch technology, there is no need to touch any bacteria-laden surfaces in the process.

Cost: Due to the constant maintenance and refills that come along with paper towel dispensers, automatic hand dryers are cost-effective solutions. Not only must paper towels be refilled, but there are also costs associated with the production and clean-up of paper towels. For example additional trash bags and cleaning products are needed to dispose of the paper towels and reduce the spread of germs through towels left on counter tops. Automatic solar powered hand drying machine last several years and require little maintenance, decreasing the total cost for maintaining the restroom.

Waste: Automatic solar powered hand drying machine also have more environmental benefits than paper towels. While some paper towels may be made of recycled materials, used paper towels cannot be recycled leading to an increase in waste and a continued destruction of trees for paper production. Switching to the use of automatic hand dryers in public restrooms can be helpful to reduce waste as well as energy.

1.8                                               LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Dealing with the limitation, the only limitation seen in automatic solar powered hand drying machine is that:

1. The solar-powered hand drying operating costs are quite high compare to other means of hand drying system.
2. It cannot work properly when there is no sun shine or during cloudy weather.

1.9                                                        METHODOLOGY

To achieve the aim and objectives of this work, the following are the steps involved:

1. Study of the previous work on the project so as to improve it efficiency.
2. Draw a block diagram.

• Test for continuity of components and devices,

1. programming of micro controller
2. Design and calculation for the work was carried out.
3. Studying of various component used in circuit.

• Construct the whole circuit.
• Finally, the whole device was cased and final test was carried out.

1.10                                                      PROJECT ORGANIZATION

The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuses the introductory part of the work,   chapter two presents the literature review of the study,  chapter three describes the methods applied, chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.