What means of transport do you take to reach your regular place of work? While some might consider cycling, some will use their private vehicles. Others will travel using a form public transport or taxi. In context of the current pandemic, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, stipulates two risks in regard to transportation. One being the crowding within the vehicle and the use by large numbers of people can contribute to direct transmission of COVID-19 through droplets and through contaminated surfaces. The second risk being the staff that are at increased risk of infection. Besides personal protection measures (such as face masks) on mass transport, cleaning and disinfection of the potentially contaminated surfaces within the vehicles is highly recommended. The manual decontamination of the interior of vehicles is a challenge. Especially in public transport and in areas that require a fast turnaround time between movement (e.g mining), it is almost impossible to decontaminate the interior of a vehicle between the disembarking and embarking of commuters.

With a proven track record in research and developing explosion, fire and dust suppression systems, Explospot Systems have developed a disinfection system that can easily be integrated into vehicles such as busses, taxis, trucks, ambulances, mining rops/fops and even boats or ships. These systems are designed to be activated manually or automatically once all passengers have disembarked. Upon activation the interior is decontaminated using a dry mist/fogging application. Due to the slow sedimentation speed of the disinfection mist, all surfaces (even small cavities) are being decontaminated. Besides being certified by the EPA and SABS to be effective against viruses (including covid-19), bacteria and fungi, the disinfectant “ERSA” (the disinfectant used in theses disinfection systems) is also non-corrosive, non-toxic, biocompatible, and eco-friendly. Due to these attributes, ERSA can be applied on all surfaces such as wood, metals, plastics and leather without damaging these in the long run. Any passengers embarking a decontaminated vehicle will not be at risk of being infected due to contaminated surfaces.

Mining operations are also confronted with risking contamination during transporting of personnel. Some mining operations require multiple miners to be transported in e.g. rops/fops vehicles to the working section. The passengers are at increased risk of getting infected due to contaminated surfaces. Various mining vehicles require the use of flameproof equipment as they enter environments that are considered explosive atmospheres. Due to this reason, Explospot Systems’ mining vehicle disinfection system can optionally be implemented as a flameproof system. These systems ensure that each shift will have access to a decontaminated transport environment. The material and equipment used is suitable for all mining environments, including underground coal mining. The same approach can be applied on all mining and construction vehicles. As one driver exits the vehicle the disinfection system will activate and decontaminate the driver compartment. Thereby ensuring that the driver will have a safer working environment. Electronic devices such as radios and other human machine interfaces (HMI) are not affected by the decontamination process. As the ERSA disinfectant is applied using dry mist, being non-toxic and non-corrosive, the electronic equipment will not get damaged.

The vehicle disinfection systems have also been designed to fulfill medical requirements. ERSA is a certified CE class IIb medical device and can therefore be used in a medical environment. This allows for the decontamination of surfaces in ambulances in case covid-19 patients have been transported or to clean surfaces from e.g. HIV. The principal remains the same, whereby the interior of the medical vehicle can be cleaned and then decontaminated using the installed disinfection system. By activating the system, the ERSA is distributed using a dry mist. The system has an integrated real time system check mechanism. Should the disinfectant reservoir reach a low level the operator is notified. This allows enough time to refill the system prior the disinfectant being depleted. A battery backup is optional. The system has an optional CANBUS interface, allowing the disinfection system including system status to be displayed in the vehicle HMI. Although the system can be fully integrated into any vehicles, the core function is autonomous and relies merely on the 24V power supply of the vehicle. A switch installed in the vehicle’s dashboard can be used to activate the system.

The proven robustness of the Explospot Systems’ fire and explosion suppression systems have been adopted for the disinfection system. The equipment fulfills military electrical and environmental standards such as vibration, humidity, salt water spray, high and low temperature. This allows the use in e.g. military ambulances or even armored personnel carriers. The disinfectant canisters are available in steel, aluminum and compound fiber variants. Thereby catering for mining and construction type robustness and also maritime light-weight requirements. As always, the systems are available to be customer customized using customer specific colors and branding.

With its global footprint in amongst other industries, mining and military, Explospot Systems has developed fire, explosion and dust suppression systems for over 20 years. With its own research facilities, extensive electrical, mechanical and hydraulic manufacturing capability, Explospot Systems is able to provide both large series as well as customized small series production. The production and R&D center is located in Pretoria. The addition of an internal disinfection system to the portfolio of purpose made vehicle and marine risk mitigation controls further broadens the spectrum of supplies that Explospot Systems can provide to both local and international customers.

www.explospot.com

disinfect@explospot.com

Philip du Plessis : +27 (0)64 7547543

Arend Spath: +27 (0)76 9939325