SDU students 3D printing Corona hook for you to avoid touching infected door handles
Despite that society is gradually reopening, we must still pay extremely attention to COVID-19 and potential dissemination. Thus, students from SDU Sønderborg have 3D printed a so-called Corona door hook to avoid direct contact with door handles.
Bacteria and viruses are sticking to door handles far more than you want to know – particularly during these days where the global COVID-19 pandemic is still serious business. It helps using hand sanitizer – and even better – to frequently soap your hands.
The best solution is however to completely avoid touching door handles. Students from SDU Sønderborg have 3D printed an elegant solution that works as an extension of your finger and thus creates a barrier between you and the surface otherwise subject to risk of infection. The Corona hook can be used for pushing lift buttons, moving chairs, carrying grocery bags or opening doors.
”"The whole idea came from students who wanted to help the university. And here I should like to emphasize that these students are employed by SDU – otherwise they would have been denied access to campus. They have designed the hooks themselves under my supervision, and now it is Olgierd Nowakowski, who is an undergraduate mechatronics student, who has helped printing them,”
says Andrei-Alexandru Popa, Engineer and PhD student writing a thesis on additive manufacturing.
Proud supervisor
Andrei-Alexandru Popa is head of the FabLab of the Mads Clausen Institute, which was granted 295,000 Danish kroner by the Rambøll Foundation two years ago.
"This grant meant that we had money to buy a dozen 3D printers so that our students are not limited to working with prototypes in the workshops and projects but can actually print whenever they feel like it. The Corona hook is an excellent example of this," says Andrei-Alexandru Popa.
He is proud that the young students are innovative and dynamic.
””It is fantastic when students take initiatives on their own and build their own inventions, and bring ideas to reality. It proofs that engineers solve a problem when they discover one. As a matter of fact, they love problems so much that sometimes they create problems themselves,”
says Andrei-Alexandru Popa laughing.
Everybody qualifies for a free Corona hook
Andrei-Alexandru Popa further explains that all interested people can come and get a Corona hook for free if they e-mail him first: andrei@mci.sdu.dk. Quite a number is ready to be picked up already but if the demand should increase, the MCI FabLab is able to produce up to 300 per day. It is even possible to get customized models for extra heavy doors or door handles that require a special design.
Furthermore, students have developed small devices enabling people to open doors by their elbow.
Update!
Due to an overwhelming interest, SDU Sønderborg has limited supplies to people who can come to campus themselves to pick up the Corona hooks. In return, you can find the files for the Corona hooks on this open source link and print them yourself.