Israel's IAI tests UV Light Solution to Sterilize Passenger Aircraft

by Eytan Halon   April 26, 2020

An innovative robotic system to rapidly sterilize passenger aircrafts using powerful UV light technology is being tested by leading Israeli aerospace and defense firm Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

Widely used to purify water, Lod-headquartered IAI has adapted UV-C (short-wavelength ultraviolet) technology in recent weeks to successfully disinfect coronavirus facilities at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) and Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center.

Now, engineers at IAI's aviation division are adapting the technology for the efficient and autonomous sterilization of passenger aircraft between flights, boosting airline efforts to restart operations in a safe and clean manner.

The UV-C technology is based on electromagnetic radiation emitted with a wavelength of 254 nanometers – a frequency that kills all germs and viruses and is more effective than traditional chemical cleaning for cabin surfaces.

"Our system consists of a robotic system that operates autonomously inside the airplane," said Avi, the IAI aviation division project leader, whose surname cannot be disclosed for security reasons. "We can give the robot a plan of the airplane or any large space, and the system will operate automatically."

The system is being tested on an aircraft that is currently being modified by IAI engineers in the company's facilities, Avi said. The system has proved to be faster than traditional interior cabin cleaning and sterilizes everything in the proximity of the system, including aircraft seat upholstery and other fabrics.

"The usual cleaning solutions require a lot of time, and involve chemicals, water and liquids. Passengers cannot board the airplane until it has dried out," said Avi, adding that the system is "much more affordable" than existing cleaning methods. "When you use this system, you can immediately board passengers after completing the cleaning process."

Adapting the system for mobile use within aircraft has not been without its challenges. Deploying the technology requires regulatory approval from aviation authorities, the addition of a powerful in-built AC power system, and the ability to navigate between the aircraft's narrowest seats.

"The system can operate very quickly within an airplane, because the distance from the system to the wall and ceilings is much smaller than a hospital room," Avi said.

The introduction of effective cabin sterilization technologies will be key to launching wide-scale operations in the decimated aviation industry, and to restore public confidence in plane travel.

On the frontlines of Israel's coronavirus fight

https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/On-the-frontlines-of-Israels-coronavirus-fight-624952

by Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman   April 20, 2020

When Sabrina Grodzinski returns home at the end of a 12-hour shift in the coronavirus unit at Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital, her three boys run to her for hugs. But they are quickly reminded that they will have to wait. Mommy needs to shower before they can touch her in case she has any traces of SARS-CoV-2 on her body or clothes.

Grodzinski, an emergency medicine physician currently assigned to the coronavirus unit at Assuta Ashdod, told The Jerusalem Post that when the hospital informed her in January that she would work with coronavirus patients it was only theoretical. The virus outbreak had just started, and she could not envision what this meant. Now, treating coronavirus patients has become part of her daily routine. 

Although Grodzinski said that the hospital currently has enough personal protective medical equipment, she fears that if the situation continues much longer Assuta Ashdod could be at the same risk as many others of lacking the supplies needed to ensure she is safe. 

“I don’t have neurosis about the infection, but there are days that I think, did my mask have a good seal? Or, I shower three times at work before I come home. For the most part, it is OK, but if God forbid something happened, I will think, ‘Oh my God, I brought something back to them.”

Treating Coronapatients Home Hospitalisations Virtually

How do you provide #Coronavirus patients with medical care without

risking exposure? The doctors at Israel's Sheba hospital home hospitalization unit have come

up with a way to keep Corona patients and the wonderful medical

professionals who treat them safe.

The Ultimate in Co-Existence

So beautiful: an Arab nurse at an Israeli hospital reads the Four Questions,

generally recited by children during the Passover Seder, to elderly patients

who are unable to be with their grandchildren on the holiday

due to the coronavirus

Israeli Defense Company Begins Production of Thousands of Advanced Ventilators

 Just look at the incredible timescale for getting production started.

By Yaakov Lappin, JNS

Israeli defense company Elbit Systems has set up a new production line to make thousands of advanced ventilators for hospitals in recent days.

A senior company source told JNS that the production line at Elbit Systems Land Division in Ramat Hasharon is on track to producing 3,000 ventilators by the end of May.

“We have enough production workers, whom we will place on the new manufacturing line,” said the source.

A little more than three weeks ago, Elbit turned to the Defense Ministry’s Directorate for Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) and asked how it could help the national response effort. A few days later, the Defense Ministry put it in touch with entrepreneurs—one of whom who had designed a small, compact ventilator, which the Defense Ministry had eyed years ago as a potential battlefield health system for soldiers.

Two weeks ago, the first two prototypes were produced and presented to an inter-agency coronavirus committee based at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. The committee decided to select the LifeCan One smart automatic ventilator as the most suitable and ripe solution. A little less than a week ago, Elbit received an order for 3,000 systems.

“These machines will enable medical centers to provide initial-stage respiration care to a larger number of patients that suffer from less sever respiration conditions, thereby addressing the acute shortage in ventilators,” Elbit said in a statement.

Destruction and Tomb Burning on Mount of Olives

Just one more challenge for the government in the 

midst of the Coronavirus pandemic

Tombstones are frequently vandalized and destroyed on the

Mount of Olives, especially in the Afghanistan Jewish section

of the cemetery. Tazpit News Agency reports on the phenomenon.

Israeli High School Develops Robot to Protect Doctors from Coronavirus

by Yakir Benzion, United With Israel

The robotics club at a Haifa high school has teamed up with engineers at the world-class Technion-Israeli Institute of Technology and developed a robot that will help medical workers keep their distance from coronavirus-infected patients.

Dubbed the “COROBOT,” the remote control service trolley allows medicine and food to be delivered to patients without another person present, driving right up to the patient’s bed and complete with a computer tablet to allow two-way communication.

The robot was tested last week, showing officials at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center how it can be also be used to carry equipment to the coronavirus isolation ward to the protective rooms. Like with a remote control car, an operator uses a radio control device to steer the robot.

As of last week, almost 3,000 medical staff at Israel’s hospitals were in mandatory isolation after being exposed to somebody carrying the coronavirus. That total included 631 doctors, 1,023 nurses and 1,220 other medical staff, including lab technicians, orderlies and others. Although the country has tens of thousands of medical workers, health officials are worried that continued exposure to infected patients will put too many people into protective quarantine.

The head of Rambam, Dr. Michael Halberthal, mentioned the problem of protecting staff from infection as they perform routine tasks during a meeting with colleague Dr. Rafi Beyar, a former director of the hospital and a professor of biomedical engineering at the Technion, Israel’s equivalent of MIT, Walla! News reported. Beyar suggested offering the challenge to the Galaxia robotics program at Haifa’s Reali High School, where students are mentored by Technion engineers.

“Rambam requested we help them reduce the danger to their medical teams who are working in coronavirus departments by using a robot that could replaced a team member to perform simple tasks like bringing medicine, food and medical equipment,” said Technion Professor Gil Yudilevitch, who knew that the high school’s robotics team participated in several robot competitions and had a core group of bright and capable students.

The students realized they needed something sturdy, maneuverable, bottom-heavy and able to get in between hospital beds.

The prototype was demonstrated at the hospital, where “the doctors fell in love with the robot and wanted to continue working with it,” Yudilevitch said.

The high school robotics program “is a team that can program very quickly and make it happen very quickly,” said the group’s supervisor, Tirza Hochberg. “If there is the need, we can produce several dozens of these robots in Israel.”