Auto-Info develops an innovative mobile COVID testing unit incorporating Siemens Climatix IC
Auto-Info Co., Ltd., an automation specialist in the Life Science industry, and Siemens Thailand, announced their launch of a Modular COVID-19 Examination Unit for emerging diseases, a system entirely innovated and developed in Thailand, complying with biological scientific standards. The mobile lab structure and system have been well-designed to avoid contamination among patients or from patients to medical personnel by using a flexible and scalable advanced HVAC control solution - Climatix IC platform - from Siemens to help protect contamination. In addition, the mobile structure is built from strong and durable material that meets the healthcare industry standard, easy to install with precise dimensions of 3x6x3 meter, and can be operated anywhere by plugging in to household electricity. Auto-Info has been in a discussion with organizations to donate this first unit of the mobile built-in labs for COVID-19 screening in risk areas or border crossings like airports, frontiers throughout the country, by focusing on safety first.
Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Thailand is well-controlled with stringent measures and self-care discipline, to prevent against virus rebound. However, since a coronavirus vaccine is still under development, screening points such as immigrations, border checkpoints, airports, hospitals, alternative state quarantine (ASQ) hotels, etc., are considered as strategic checkpoints to detect the virus rebound. Currently the best precautionary measure is to provide highly effective, flexible and standard testing labs, therefore, we innovate and develop an advanced medical examination lab to meet the public health needs that require safer and more convenient testing mobile lab and to solve various issues and concerns, i.e. mobility limitation, vast amount of loose & separated parts, inter-patients’ vulnerable transmission, no patient room, specimen collection materials cleaning difficulty, no built-in lab for rapid tests, designed with an ordinary air conditioning which overtime could collect germs and contamination and not durable, etc.
“This concept started with us feeling a sense of responsibility, and wanting to do something for our society, our country and people during the crisis. From the very beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak until now, my friends and I have found challenges in the screening processes, which pose high risks for patients and medical personnel. We then extended our ideas into a design and a development of the modular COVID-19 examination unit for medical personnel with a global standard, equipped with the best functions and equipment,” said Mr Wisit Pacharatanasarn, Vice Managing Director at Auto-Info Co., Ltd. “We combined our 20-year pharmaceutical and biotechnological experience and expertise with automation technology that is easily customized and deployed, to perfect this modular examination unit that complies with the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in USA for design standard, ISO 14644-3, and other healthcare standards for testing”.
“Air ventilation control is one of the important challenges in system planning and production processes. Consequently, we need to consider not only positive and negative air pressure control to prevent germ transmission, but also relative humidity, pressure, temperature, and clean air precise control. The Siemens Climatix IC technology meets those needs perfectly. The technology comes with highly effective equipment and specifically designed programs to support various situations. In addition, we installed a three-filter system to block virus infiltration. The modular system allows for effective area, procedure, and control management. We aim to manufacture and deliver more of these modular examination units to healthcare and industrial agencies and it will take only one month for assembly which is faster than any other current systems in the market,” added Mr Wisit.
“We are excited to support Auto-Info, our trusted and long-standing partner, in developing this innovative Mobile Testing Lab. The Siemens Climatix platform provides precise monitoring and ventilation control of the HVAC systems. This platform offers a complete range of flexible and scalable control solutions, which has been specifically developed to enable OEMs to create and optimize their offerings, while enabling new business models,” said Mr Ross Conlon, Senior Vice President, Head of Building Products, Smart Infrastructure, Siemens Thailand. “Combined with our range of sensor and field devices, Climatix allows operators to visualize and control settings, as well as to record historical data on performance. The offering is cloud-ready and can be connected to our Climatix IC platform for a broad range of remote configuration, monitoring and services.”
