浙大學生髮明用空氣洗手裝置 獲得國際大獎

A group of senior students from Zhejiang University have successfully developed an "air hand-washing device."

浙江大學的一隊大四學生成功研製出了“空氣洗手裝置”。

The device utilizes an infrared ray induction system, which detects the presence of hands. A tap then sprays a light water mist along with a strong gust of air, which the students have proven to be nearly as effective as traditional hand-washing.

該裝置利用了紅外線感應系統，可以探測到雙手的存在。之後，水龍頭就會噴出霧狀水滴和高速氣流，學生們已經證實了此方法和傳統的洗手方法一樣有效。

However, the device uses only 10 percent of the water that regular hand-washing does.

但是，這種裝置相比常規的洗手方法，只用10%的水量。

Li Qizhang, a member of the team that developed the device, told a reporter from that a model of their device has already been installed in a classroom building at the university, and that the results have been satisfactory.

研發該裝置的團隊中一名名叫李啓章的成員告訴《澎湃新聞》的記者，這個裝置的模型在大學的教學樓裏安裝了一臺，效果令人滿意。

The students have set up a company to further promote their product.

學生們已經成立了一家公司來進一步推廣他們的產品。

In 2014, a student named Chen Puyang first came up with the idea while washing his hands in the school cafeteria. Washing one's hands uses a lot of water, Chen thought. Would it be possible to replace the water with air?

2014年，陳濮陽同學在學校食堂洗手時首先想出了這個主意。他認爲，洗手會浪費很多水，那麼可以用空氣來代替水嗎？

Others may not have given the question a second thought. However, for Chen and Li, who were studying fluid mechanics, this constituted a brilliant idea.

一般人可能不會再去多想這個問題。但是，對於學習流體力學的陳濮陽和李啓章來說，卻是個不錯的點子。

Soon, Chen, Li and several classmates embarked on the project. The design of the device required knowledge from a variety of different majors, so the team eventually came to be composed of seven students from various majors.

不久，陳濮陽、李啓章和幾個同學開始着手這個計劃。裝置的設計需要各種專業知識，所以團隊最終由7名來自不同專業的學生組成。

"We put different kinds of dirt on our hands and washed them with water. It turned out that 95 percent of water is used to flush away the dirt; only 5 percent is used to dissolve it.

李啓章解釋道：“我們用水來沖洗手上的各種污漬，發現95%的水都用於沖走污漬，只有5%的水用於溶解污漬。

If we washed with only air, then the dirt on our hands would not dissolve. So we decided to use a fine water spray to complement the air. That way, the dirt is carried away by air and dissolved by water," explained Li.

如果我們用空氣來沖洗手的話，手上的污漬則無法溶解。所以我們決定用水噴霧來彌補空氣的缺陷。用這個方法，污漬能被水溶解然後被空氣帶走”。

After a year of research and experimentation, the team came up with a gravity-driven hand-washing device whose reliance on water was minimal.

經過一年的研究實驗，這一團隊想出了重力驅動洗手裝置，此裝置耗水量極少。

The user stands on a platform in front of the device, which sinks because of the weight of the user.

當使用者站在洗手裝置前的踏板上，踏板由於人體重力而下沉，

The gravity exerted by the user pulls the piston through a pulley block, and a gust of air is generated through air extrusion. The tap then releases a water mist coupled with the gust.

人體的重力通過滑輪組，牽引活塞擠壓空氣獲得高速氣流，令水龍頭噴出水霧來。

The team tested the device by conducting chromogenic reaction and residual bacteria experiments, which proved that the results of hand-washing with air can be similar to those of washing with water.

該團隊還通過顯色反應和細菌殘留實驗來測試裝置。實驗證明空氣洗手的效果和那些用水洗手的效果並無差異。

In September 2015, the team took its invention to the Global Grand Challenges Summit. They took home the top award, beating teams from 14 universities including MIT and Cambridge.

2015年9月，他們帶着這項發明參加了全球重大挑戰峯會。最終他們擊敗了包括麻省理工學院和劍橋大學在內的14所大學，拿到了最高獎項。