3D-printed doffing units developed by IIT-M start-up installed in hospitals

After the country’s first 3D-printed house, deep tech start-up Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions has now developed doffing units to protect frontline health care workers using the same technology in collaboration with Saint-Gobain.

Two 3D-printed doffing units have been deployed at the Kanchipuram government hospital and Omandurar Medical College and Hospital in Chennai, while the foundation stone at Tiruvallur government hospital has been laid. Tvasta, founded by IIT-Madras alumni, had developed India's first 3D-printed house which has been installed at the institute's campus in Chennai.

Doffing units help doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers to sanitize themselves after their shifts, and safely remove the PPE kits and dispose of them properly. The units, which are integrated with equipment such as UV-C sterilisation box, automatic sanitiser and soap dispensers, eliminate the risk of these healthcare workers carrying the infection to their homes.

The 150-square feet doffing unit is also equipped with a washbasin, water closet, and a shower, besides a special provision for PPE disposal with a disposal chute to minimise the contamination from the PPE.

3D-printed doffing units save time as only the assembling of the unit takes place in the hospital premises, compared to the conventional style of construction which would not just consume more time but also cause inconvenience to patients during a pandemic.

These units are printed at Tvasta’s 3D printing facility in Perungudi in Chennai and transported to the hospitals in a modular manner. The company said the technology offers a significant reduction in time and cost of the unit, while plumbing and electrical lines are integrated along the 3D printed walls.

Welcoming the move, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said Saint-Gobain Company is providing the doffing units under its CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiatives. “These doffing units will be a model to the entire country,” he said.

Tvasta said the walls are 3D printed with an optimal design with a positioned gap which significantly reduces the raw material usage and enhances the thermal insulation making it a more sustainable structure compared to conventional structures. “The concrete 3D printing technology is a ‘Ready-to-Implement Methodology’ with no lead time on manufacturing, which significantly reduces the construction time,” the company said.

Tvasta’s ‘Concrete 3D Printing’ is an automated manufacturing method for constructing three-dimensional real-life structures (at all realizable scales). The technique utilizes a Concrete 3D Printer – a Tvasta product – which accepts a computerized three-dimensional design file from the user and fabricates a 3D structure in a layer-by-layer manner by extruding flowable material akin to concrete.