Aquila has unveiled technology combining the effectiveness of UV with the cleaning power of plasma to disinfect masks and gowns in a matter of minutes, without having to send them off site
PPE equipment can be disinfected more regularly than with central disinfecting systems and so helps to prevent cross-contamination. The Aquila disinfecting system is highly cost effective, easy to operate, requires little maintenance and does not require further logistic overheads of storing and transporting re-used PPE equipment.
The system is environmental friendly with no chemicals being used – it has no extra costs and is very low maintenance.
The Aquila system protects medical workers by disinfecting their mask whenever they take a break to the mask material without degradation-thus the masks can be disinfected in less than a minute. This means that medical workers in between shifts can effectively "refresh" their masks, giving them greater comfort and protection.
This solution allows medical workers to safely extend the use of their PPE rather than a collecting disposed PPE to be centrally disinfected.
Re-use of PPE equipment has not been done before due the nature of the products, which are generally meant to be disposable. However, the COVID 19 pandemic has shown us that this type of use for PPE equipment is not appropriate or effective in a global shortage situation when PPE is needed most.
Aquila are presently developing a working prototype for disinfecting masks, with a larger machine to follow - aimed at processing of gowns, incorporating a unique design of disinfectant chamber to ensure thorough cleaning and supported with software to personally identify each individual mask and gown. It is clearly important to ensure that each person gets their own items back - so no one has to wear someone’s else’s mask or gown.
To ensure that every part of a gown is disinfected, Aquila uses ionised air vortex technology that inflates the gown to expose each surface to the light that disinfects UV.
Areas that are not generally exposed, e.g. gown folds, etc., receive both high-intensity UVGI and plasma exposure to ensure complete disinfection within a minute, rather than hours as required with conventional central disinfection approach.
