Automatic No-Touch Open/Close Toilet Minimising Infection Risks from Airborne Pathogens and Surface Contamination

COVID-19是由最近发现的冠状病毒SARS-CoV-2引起的高度传染性疾病，有两种主要传播途径：（1）空气传播的病原体和（2）通过污染表面的涂片感染。厕所，特别是公共场所和大型组织的洗手间中具有多个厕所的安装，是一种被忽视的感染风险：众所周知，厕所冲洗会引入气溶胶，其中可以促进病原体空气传播的微小空气液滴被释放到空气中。在使用者离开厕所隔间后很长一段时间内，这些水滴可以传播数十米。还有证据表明，SARS-CoV-2存在于粪便中（Xiao et al 2020，Peng et al 2020）和之前由病毒阳性人员处理的物体表面（Döhla et al 2020）。这使得厕所成为涂片感染的重要来源。即使在意识到COVID-19感染风险并寻求避免这些风险的人群中，非自愿、反射性的面对面接触（例如打喷嚏或咳嗽时）偶尔也会超过谨慎的行为。因此，公共厕所构成了双重威胁，因为普通厕所使用者既无法检测到气溶胶病原体，也无法检测到通常需要手动操作的厕所部件上的传染性物质，如按下冲水按钮或马桶盖。长期以来，用户研究表明，出于卫生和健康考虑，大多数人不喜欢在公共厕所内触摸马桶座圈，因此这些厕所通常是开着盖子冲水的。在COVID-19的背景下，与这种习惯产生的微小水滴有关的健康问题现在比以往任何时候都更加紧迫。需要一种新颖的解决方案，以确保马桶盖在冲洗前牢固地固定在“向下”位置并密封气密，使得水滴不能逃逸到周围空气中。与此同时，必须解决使用者对启动马桶冲洗的“非接触”启动机构的迫切需求。当前的技术水平没有提供安全、稳健、适合大众市场且可负担得起的技术来满足对这种解决方案的需求。因此，在本项目中，我们建议开发一种原型马桶，该原型马桶将新颖的“无接触”激活方法与电机驱动机制相结合，以安全地自动打开和关闭马桶盖，而无需任何手动操作。最重要的是，这些进步将被集成到一个马桶中，该马桶的设计初衷是通过在冲水前锁定和密封盖子来减少高达95%的气溶胶病原体。

COVID-19, the highly infectious disease caused by the recently discovered coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has two major transmission routes: (1) airborne pathogens and (2) smear infections through contaminated surfaces. Toilets, especially installations with multiple cubicles in washrooms of public venues and larger organisations, are an overlooked infection risk:Toilet flushing is known to introduce aerosolisation, where microscopic air droplets that can promote the airborne spread of pathogens, are released into the air. With residence times long after toilet users have left the cubicle, these droplets can travel tens of meters. There is also evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is present in faeces (Xiao et al 2020, Peng et al 2020) and on surfaces of objects that were previously handled by virus-positive persons (Döhla et al 2020). This makes toilets a significant source of smear infections. Involuntary, reflexive hand-to-face contact (e.g. while sneezing or coughing) occasionally overrides cautious behaviour even in people that are conscious of COVID-19 infection risks and seek to avoid them. Public toilets therefore pose a two-fold threat, because the average toilet user can neither detect aerolised pathogens nor the infectious matter on toilet parts that usually require manual operation, like push-to-flush buttons or toilet lids.User studies have long suggested that most people do not like to touch toilet seats in public washrooms due to hygienic and health concerns, so these toilets are usually flushed with the lid open. Against the backdrop of COVID-19, the health concerns in connection with the microscopic water droplets this habit produces have now been raised more urgently than ever before. A novel solution is required that ensures the toilet lid is securely fixed in the "down"-position and sealed airtight before flushing, so that water droplets cannot escape into the surrounding air. At the same time, the acute user need of a "no touch" activation mechanism to start the toilet flush must be addressed.The current state-of-the-art does not offer a safe, robust, mass market-ready and affordable technology to meet the demand for such a solution. In this project, we therefore propose to develop a prototype toilet that integrates a novel "no touch" activation method with a motor-driven mechanism to safely open and close toilet lids automatically, without the need for any manual operation. Most importantly, these advancements will be integrated into a toilet that is inherently designed to reduce aerolised pathogens by up to 95% by locking and sealing the lid tightly before flushing.