How Automated Systems Support Effective Handwashing
Automated handwashing systems such as Meritech's CleanTech® handwashing stations are built around the four elements of an effective wash - surface preparation, coverage, dosing and dwell time - all controlled within a single 12-second cycle. You place your hands into the system and an infrared sensor starts the process automatically from there.
Surface preparation
CleanTech® EVO uses water jets to provide the mechanical action that would normally come from rubbing your hands together. The system has 40 nozzles, 20 positioned around each hand and the wash cylinders rotate around the hands as hygiene solution and water are applied. That removes pathogens and light surface contamination from the skin.
It's not intended to shift heavy deposits like mud, thick grease or pieces of product. Meritech recommends removing excess debris before using CleanTech® EVO. Where heavy soiling is likely, gloves or a separate preliminary cleaning stage may be needed first.
Coverage
The nozzles are arranged around the hands so coverage doesn't depend on the user following a manual technique. The cylinders rotate around the hands 23 times per cycle, with nozzles set in a helical pattern to direct water across the skin and higher-velocity jets aimed at the fingertips. Further nozzles at the wrists direct water downwards to help prevent splashing.
On the EVO Three, deeper wash cylinders extend that action beyond the wrists to the mid-forearm.
CleanTech® EVO also washes around the fingertips and fingernails, though Meritech recommends a nail brush where debris is trapped beneath the nails.
Dosing
You don't decide how much product to apply and there's no separate soap dispenser to operate. CleanTech® EVO dispenses the hygiene solution automatically and controls exactly how much solution and water is delivered each cycle.
The system is designed for use with Meritech UltraPure Hand Hygiene Solution. Meritech's pathogen-removal results are based on testing that chemistry specifically within CleanTech® systems, so a different product could change the effectiveness of the process and the tested performance could no longer be assumed to apply.
Sensors monitor operating conditions - temperature, flow, pressure - and the EVO's solution cartridges have their own sensors that flag when the hygiene solution is running low.
Dwell time
CleanTech® EVO runs a fixed 12-second wash and rinse cycle: six seconds of washing with the hygiene solution, then a six-second potable water rinse. A photo-optical sensor starts the process the moment hands enter the machine, the display counts down and it tells the user when the cycle's complete - so the contact time can't get cut short because someone's in a hurry or thinks they've washed for long enough when they haven't.
Meritech states that this combination of spray action, chemistry and controlled contact time has been independently tested to remove more than 99.9% of harmful pathogens and that it hasn't found any efficacy benefit from extending the standard cycle when the system is running the correct hygiene solution under the specified conditions.
Learn about Meritech's CleanTech handwashing stations here.