UCF engineers offer sustainable solution to fighting COVID-19

In an effort to push both sanitation and sustainability, a group of UCF engineers have teamed up with UCF's SALT Outreach to use a device developed to make disposable masks safe to reuse amidst the pandemic.

Next Gen Engineers, a group recently established in the Summer of 2020, is associated with the Engineering Leadership and Innovation Institute at UCF, and is a branch of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Moses Hinrichsen, president of Next Gen Engineers, said their device utilizes UV light to sanitize masks and eliminate 99.9% of the bacteria on face coverings.

“When it comes to using UVC to sanitize masks, we are the first group to have a functional device that does that at UCF,” the sophomore aerospace engineering major said.

Hinrichsen said the device itself is simple in design, consisting of an orange plastic tool box that houses the ultraviolet lights inside of it.

“It has a [UVC] light on the top, and a light on the bottom," Hinrichsen said. “Then we use fishing line or copper wire to actually hold the masks with push pins inside of the device."

Hinrichsen added that the device can effectively clean three masks at a time as long as the UVC bulbs have a direct “line of sight” with the surfaces of the masks.

Once a mask is placed inside, the user closes the box and waits an hour before they are sanitized of viruses and bacteria and are safe for reuse, Hinrichsen said.

The use of UVC is why the group said it is also very effective in ridding reusable masks of potential risks regarding the coronavirus. 

"The system itself is made to be used at temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit," Hinrichsen said. "That is the range the bulb manufacturers recommended for application."

In terms of combating the coronavirus and other diseases, the high energy light that comes from the UV bulb can break apart mRNA strands that viruses use to replicate, Hinrichsen said.

“When it comes to the actual virus level, you want to make sure that the mRNA can't reproduce,” Hinrichsen said. “So what the UVC is doing, it breaks the mRNA and inactivates the virus."

To see its effectiveness, Next Gen Engineers gifted the device to UCF’s SALT Outreach to help the group with their sustainability efforts as well.

SALT Outreach at UCF is a group that provides basic needs to the vulnerable homeless population in the downtown Orlando area. 

Naim Shaqquu, a sophomore double majoring in biomedical and computer science at UCF, said he is very grateful for the device and Next Gen Engineers donation.

"Instead of buying new masks and giving them out, we just reuse the masks,” Shaqquu said. “So that would be very good for the environment and also it would save us a lot of money."

Victoria Orindas, president of UCF's Salt Outreach said that this device also comes as a major benefit because it gives her peace of mind knowing that her cohorts have extra precautions to keep them safe.

“We wear these masks all day while we’re helping the homeless,” the junior biomedical sciences major said. “It really is a blessing to have this device and use it to keep other SALT members safe.”  

As far as the future of the project is concerned, Hinrichsen said he hopes the data gathered from their partnership with SALT will gain support from UCF. He also said he hopes to land a grant that could scale the project to a larger size.

In the meantime, he and Next Gen Engineers said they are just happy to help.

"From what they've told me, they've enjoyed it so far, and they've been using it,” Hinrichsen said.  “We're just excited that somebody is able to benefit from our work."