In times of the corona crisis, where hand contact should be avoided as much as possible, it is only then that you become aware of how often you have to touch surfaces or operate door handles every day. The Penzberg-based consulting company MoveMent Consulting GmbH has addressed this issue and developed a simple and practical solution within a very short time.
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Not only does the cleankY PRO made of soft-touch PP compound open doors, is also handy when buttons or levers need to be pressed or operated. |
“When the coronavirus turned into a serious threat, we thought about how we could make a meaningful contribution to protection against germs, with our know-how as experienced engineers and designers.
Quickly it became clear that we should deal with door handles. It was particularly important to protect people’s hands from contact with door handles, a fertile source of germs,” says Markus Krekemeyer, project engineer at Movement Consulting.
The company, which normally operates in the field of 3D printing, was able to hire a graduate of the Technical University of Rosenheim to assist in the transition from prototypes made by the 3D printer to serial production using injection moulding.
A tool manufacturer near Munich was able to complete the injection moulds of aluminium within only one week. For the injection moulding production, the newcomer was able to win over the company of a student friend from his bachelor studies in Würzburg; the company kindly provided an injection moulding machine.
A total of 3 different door openers have been developed, including the cleankY PRO model, which can be used not only to open doors but also to operate buttons and knobs, for example at cash dispensers, in buses and trains and within elevators.
Initially, a standard PP grade with 30 % glass fibre reinforcement was used here. However, the developer wanted higher scratch resistance and abrasion resistance, as well as a pleasant feel and increased film strength for handling. Dirk Pessler, application developer at the Hamburg-based plastics distributor K.D. Feddersen recommended a special soft-touch PP compound that requires no additional coating and offers a suitable soft-touch surface. The material could be matched at short notice and the machine was converted quickly and easily.
“We were very curious to see how the material, which had previously been used mainly in the automotive sector, would prove itself for this application,” says Krekemeyer. His conclusion: “The cleankY PRO made of the soft-touch PP compound has significantly more grip than its predecessor of standard PP.”
Figure 1: Not only does the cleankY PRO made of soft-touch PP compound open doors, is also handy when buttons or levers need to be pressed or operated.
