Health & Wellbeing

LG's handrail sterilizer promises to keep escalators germ-free

LG's handrail sterilizer promises to keep escalators germ-free
LG says its handrail sterilizer kills 99.99 percent of germs
LG says its handrail sterilizer kills 99.99 percent of germs
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LG says its handrail sterilizer kills 99.99 percent of germs
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LG says its handrail sterilizer kills 99.99 percent of germs
Installation of LG's sterilizer is said to be simple, and require no changes to the escalator
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Installation of LG's sterilizer is said to be simple, and require no changes to the escalator

Handrails are pretty good at helping escalator riders stay balanced, but you know what else they're good at? Collecting germs. LG is aiming to put a stop to these conveyor belts of infectious bacteria with a dedicated sterilizer that kills them off with UV light.

With countless hands reaching out for the steadying influence of these rubbery rails, they can play host to all kinds of undesirable items such as E. coli, urine, blood and mucus. But according to LG, such things can be killed off with a steady stream of UV light.

The Handrail UV LED Sterilizer is installed on the front end of an escalator handrail, just before the point where a passenger would first grab a hold of it. By applying a UV LED light at a wavelength of 278 nanometers, the company claims this sterilizer then destroys the DNA of 99.99 percent of germs that pass through.

Installation is said to be simple and require no changes to the escalator, and the wireless device requires no power as it apparently generates its own electricity from the moving handle. The company also notes that it is harmless for humans, as it does not use chemicals or heavy metals.

There's no word yet on how much the sterilizer will cost, but LG says it has already gained CE certification from the European Union and a KC certificate from South Korea, so perhaps the escalator riders of those regions will be the first treated to sanitized rails.

Source: LG

3 comments
3 comments
Marco Corona
Why not bombard the UV LED at everything else around us? Public bathrooms would be a good start. So would the cabins of airlines. Then again, is too much paranoia being spread with all this obsession over germs? Pretty soon, we will put our immune systems out of business.
CharlieSeattle
Next design a dedicated internet server hub spam and virus detector that scans ALL up loads from anywhere, before they are sent on.
JGTinNJ
It is well known that short wavelength uv light has very good antiseptic properties. The classic lamps that offer the shorter wavelengths though are expensive and not environmentally friendly. There are LED lights available, also very expensive, but they are coming down in price. They have long lives and are more energy efficient, so we will begin to see them coming up in more and more products.
The only downside to these products is that if they are around a lot it makes it more difficult to develop a culture in which people wash their hands frequently to reduce chances of infection. It is a good habit to have, even if you don't have to worry about an escalator rail.