Current Affairs Science & Technology

 “Unisaviour”, a disinfection box has been developed by the researchers at IIT Roorkee. The disinfection box “Unisaviour” can be used to sterilize personal belongings, apparels, PPE, medical equipment among others form the COVID-19. The disinfection box can also be installed easily at the public spaces such as cinema halls, malls etc to ensure the highest standard of hygiene. The disinfection box “Unisaviour” contains a metal coated with highly reflective geometry which allows the calibrated passage of UVC light to disinfect the personal belongings. The box also comprises an additional safety switch for UVC light.

 Pune based molecular biology company- Mylab Discovery Solutions Private Limited has launched a cartridge-based machine named ‘Compact XL’ on 7th July 2020 that will be able to test and handle multiple samples at the same time. The machine will reduce the need for laboratory technicians for handling and testing samples to one, as an individual will be able to operate the machine.   
  • Compact XL
Compact XL is a 4X3 benchtop machine that is 100 percent indigenously developed and the first Machine in India that will fully automate the manual laboratory operations required for testing molecular diagnostic samples of COVID-19. This automated system will be able to handle samples of RNA/DNA based test, RT-PCR test, Plasma, Tissue, Swab, and Sputum. A total of 32 samples can be handled and tested by the machine in an hour. The machine is priced at Rs 40 lakh (4 million Rupee). The pre-ordering of the machine begins on 13th July 2020. The testing capacity of the machine can be increased from 32 per hour in the future based on the demand.

 India’s & Asia’s Largest and World’s Second Largest Uptime Tier IV Designed Data Centre was inaugurated virtually on 7th July 2020. The Data Centre is named ‘Yotta NM1 or NM1’ is located inside the 600-Acre Hiranandani Fortune City at Navi Mumbai’s Panvel region. Inside the Hiranandani Fortune City, a Data Centre Park named Panvel Data Centre Park or Integrated Yotta Data Centre Park has been developed, NM1 is located inside the Panvel Data Centre Park. The NM1 Data Centre was inaugurated virtually in the presence of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray and Ravi Shankar Prasad (Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology).
  • NM1 Data Centre
The NM1 Data Centre has been developed by Yotta Infrastructure Solutions LLP (a subsidiary of Hiranandani Group). A total of five Data Centre Buildings will be developed at the Panvel Data Centre Park by Yotta Infrastructure. NM1 is the first of the five such building. The five buildings at Panvel Data Centre Park will be spread in over 18 acres of land. NM1 Data Centre has received certification from the United States-based Uptime Institute as the Largest Tier IV Designed Data Centre in India & Asia and the World’s Second Largest. This certification is valid up to 27th April 2022.

 IIT-Bombay has created Indian beneficiary chip “Dhruva”. This chip can be utilized in cell phones and route gadgets to discover locations and route inside the nation. Dhruva will get signals from India’s NAVIC group of navigation satellites just as the US Global Positioning System-based satellites to decide these precisely under every single climate condition. The radiofrequency collector chip was structured in the year and a half by understudies and specialists at IIT Bombay. It can receive in different frequency bands and handle weak signals.

 A robot named as ‘Coro-bot’ has been developed by an engineer from Thane district of Maharashtra, in order to reduce the physical contact of care-givers with COVID-19 patients. Instrumentation Engineer, Pratik Tirodkar developed the ‘Coro-bot’ to cut away the requirement of physical contact of nurses and ward boys with the patient as they confronts a great risk while working in the COVID-19 hospitals. The robot ‘Coro-bot’ will be operated by a special app from any location in the world based on the idea of Internet of Things (IoT). This robot can provide various services such as delivering food, water and medicines to the patients suffering from COVID-19, without any necessity of physical presence of nurses as well as other care-givers. Impressed by its performance, Thane Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde has indicated to deploy Coro-bot in over a dozen government and private hospitals of the district.

 A UVC-based Cabinet has been co-developed by the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) and the MEKINS Industries. The UVC-based Cabinet will disinfect non-critical hospital items, laboratory wear, and PPEs in order to prevent surface contamination of COVID 19. The cabinet will also have the capability to disinfect items that have been exhibited to customers in commercial establishments and several domestic items. With relaxation of the lockdown, there is a chance of transmission through surface contamination and hence the common utilities will play a key role in such situation. Therefore, the best way to tackle this transmission is by using a dry and chemical-free rapid disinfection through exposure to UVC light.

 A disinfection unit named as “Ultra Swachh” has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It has been developed to disinfect a wide range of materials such as electronics items, fabrics, Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) etc. “Ultra Swachh” has been developed in compliance with International Standards of Industrial, Occupational, Personal and Environmental Safety. It would be available in two variants namely Ozonated Space and Trinetra Technology. It comprises of Ozonated Space Technology and uses the advanced oxidative process for disinfection process. It is a double layered system with specialised Ozone sealant technology which ensures the trapping of ozone for the necessary disinfection cycle.

 NASA astronauts Robrt Behnken and Douglas Hurley docked the SpaceX capsule with the International Space Station(ISS). SpaceX’s Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon capsule – Endeavour launched from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Now SpaceX became the first private company to fly astronauts into orbit. This is the primary mission NASA astronauts launched in the United States since the retirement of the spacecraft in 2011. Falcon9 is that the world’s first orbital class, two stage reusable rocket designed and made by SpaceS for the transportation of humans and payloads into Earth orbit.

 The scientists of ARCI (Advanced Research for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials) recently developed PEMFC (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells). The technology is to be used to manage Natural Disasters.
  • Highlights
The PEMFC is a system with 10 KW capacity. They have operational advantage to operate at low-temperature in decentralized systems of power generation. The technology was developed at Chennai centre of ARCI. The system is to be used to operate early warning systems using phones, ethernet, computers, FAX, etc.
  • Significance
The technology is to act as power house to Emergency Operation Centres. The Control Rooms that respond to disasters are now being altered as Emergency Operation Centres. Therefore, the technology has come in at the right time. It provides immediate support during Golden Hour. They operate using hydrogen gas and there is no necessity to use grid power.
  • Fuel Cells
The Fuel cell uses chemical energy to generate electricity. It consists of 2 electrodes called anode and cathode. It also holds an electrolyte that acts as catalyst to speed up reactions at electrodes. The main advantage of fuel cell is that it creates minimum waste (pollution).

  Google Cloud announced its plans to open a Delhi Cloud Region. This will be the company’s second cloud region in India since it launched one in Mumbai three years ago in 2017. The new cloud region will expand Google’s existing network which stands at 8 regions in the Asia Pacific and 22 regions globally. Google cloud regions bring Google Cloud Platform services to global organisations in industries like media and entertainment, retail and manufacturing. The Delhi cloud region will have three zones to protect against service disruptions. The project to be launched in 2021. In combination with the existing Mumbai cloud region Mumbai, it will also enable in-country disaster recovery for the customers’ mission-critical applications.


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