A DUAL-TRIGGER SMART HAND WASHING MACHINE

Abstract

Hand washing is simple and effective in preventing the transmission of infection and sickness in various contexts, including the home, workplace, childcare facilities, and hospitals. It is important to note that contaminated surface like tap heads and manually operated hand sanitizer pose threat to the users of such facility and as such has constituted a global concern due to the emergence of diseases that can be easily transmitted. Hence, this project presents a low-cost automatic hand washing machine with a temperature sensor and counter, triggered by an Ultrasonic sensor and Laser-Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) trip wire that puts ON or OFF the pump and counting at the same time.  The system design was done in two levels, the 3D model and circuit diagram design: firstly, the 3D model design was done with Autodesk Inventor 2017 while the circuit diagram design was done using Fritzing software and simulations performed for both levels. The system was fabricated and evaluated; the result obtained revealed reliable water dispense since the water flow can be activated by either an ultrasonic or laser-LDR sensor, a strong frame at a threshold weight of 166.6 N, and reliable temperature measurement.  The uniqueness of this work is that it combines automated temperature measurement, hand-washing, and counting systems in a single device. Temperature measurement and hand-washing help to prevent disease spread while the counting system assists in recording the number of people using or entering a facility to aid the practice of social distancing as means of curtailing the spread of the diseases.