Redesign of Novel Hand Sanitising Door Handle Product for UK Market

OpenClean技术公司在全球销售独特的洗手门把手。我们制造屡获殊荣的专利设备，将门把手带来的威胁转化为洗手的机会。我们希望满足英国和欧洲市场对消毒解决方案的需求，帮助公共建筑在大流行期间和之后保持安全。不幸的是，我们的两个产品之一- TurnClean，需要在英国使用大量的设计和制造更改。拟议的项目将解决这个问题。我们的项目很重要，因为疫情对所有企业都构成了挑战。所有的公共建筑现在都成为一种威胁，尤其是对那些最脆弱的人群。每个企业主都有责任确保他们的设施安全。不幸的是，办公室、工厂、学校、餐馆和酒店的设计都没有考虑到感染控制。重要的是，它们有很多接触点，游客和工作人员可以在那里存放和感染。其中一个常见的接触点就是门把手。世界卫生组织、公共卫生部门和国民保健服务都警告过通过门把手感染疾病的危险。随着时间的推移，人们试图设计出保持清洁的门把手，导致了铜把手、银离子把手，甚至是在门把手上喷洒消毒液的喷雾系统。此外，建筑师们试图将它们完全从建筑物中设计出来。这些解决方案都是不够的。门把手在所有建筑中都是非常普遍的——它们只能部分被设计出来。此外，由昂贵材料和涂层制成的门把手已被证明对新型冠状病毒无效，研究表明，病毒可以在昂贵的抗菌铜上停留两个小时。我们的产品是不同的。我们的目的不是把把手弄干净，而是把手弄干净。通过将门把手与洗手液分配器相结合，我们使洗手变得简单直观。我们的TurnClean产品专为美国门和美国门把手配件而设计。TurnClean不是门把手，而是一个与门把手无缝集成的铝制酒精消毒液分配器。美国的门闩通常设计在3英寸左右，而英国和欧洲的门闩则大不相同。这意味着我们无法在英国销售我们的清洁产品。然而，主要的问题是一样的我们需要一个装置，使转动门把手安全。我们正在申请这笔拨款，因为我们想让我们的TurnClean产品的英国和欧洲版本。虽然我们产品的潜在市场很大，但我们公司的规模很小。我们的投资者为我们在英国成立提供了足够的资金，但不足以支付TurnClean产品的重新设计和制造。如果我们在这个应用程序是成功的，我们将转换我们现有的美国为重点的产品为英国市场。我们将用这笔资金来设计、制作原型和测试这个产品。

OpenClean Technologies sells globally unique hand-sanitising door handles. We make award-winning, patented devices that turn the threat posed by door handles into an opportunity to sanitise hands. We want to address the needs of the UK and European markets for sanitising solutions that help make public buildings safe during and after the pandemic. Unfortunately, one of our two products -- TurnClean, requires substantial design and manufacturing changes to be used in the UK. The proposed project will address this problem.Our project is important because the pandemic has challenged all businesses. All public buildings have now become a threat especially to those populations that are most vulnerable. It falls to every business owner to make their facilities safe. Unfortunately, offices, factories, schools, restaurants and hotels were not designed with infection control in mind. Importantly, they have lots of touch points where visitors and workers can deposit and pick up infections.One such common touchpoint is the door handle. The WHO, PHE and the NHS have all warned about the dangers of picking up infections from door handles. Over time, there have been many attempts to design door handles that remain clean resulting in copper handles, silver ion handles, and even spray systems that spray sanitising fluid on the handle. Additionally, architects have tried to design them out of buildings entirely.None of these solutions are sufficient. Door handles are and will remain extremely common in all buildings -- they can only ever be partially designed out. Further, door handles made of expensive materials and coatings have proven ineffective against the novel coronavirus with studies showing that the virus can remain on expensive antimicrobial copper for two hours.Our products are different. Our aim is not to make the handle clean but rather to make hands clean. By combining a door handle with a hand sanitiser dispenser we make hand sanitisation easy and intuitive.Our TurnClean product has been designed for American doors and American door handle fittings. TurnClean is not a door handle, but rather an aluminium, alcohol sanitiser dispenser that is designed integrate seamlessly with the handle. US door latches are most commonly designed around 3-inch hole whereas UK and European latches are very different. This means that we are unable to sell our turn clean product in the UK. However, principally the problem is the same we need a device which makes turning door handles safe.We are applying for this grant because we would like to make a UK and European version of our TurnClean product. Though the potential market for our products is very large, our company is small. Our investors have provided sufficient funds for us to become established in the UK, but not enough to cover redesign and manufacture of the TurnClean product. If we are successful in this application we will convert our existing US-focused product for the UK market. We will use this fund to design, prototype and test this product.