{"id":4243,"date":"2015-12-15T08:02:19","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T07:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?p=4243\/"},"modified":"2017-01-20T21:21:16","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T21:21:16","slug":"is-the-water-ok-his-smartphone-cover-can-test-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/is-the-water-ok-his-smartphone-cover-can-test-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the water OK? His smartphone cover can test it"},"content":{"rendered":"

The idea is that you scan the food using the phone camera and a UV light, revealing potentially harmful microorganisms. A UV lamp on the phone cover can then treat the water – effectively transforming it into a device to treat food and water contamination.<\/p>\n

According to the inventor Bhaskar Mitra, a PhD fellow at the Department of Food Science at the University of Copenhagen, the phone will make life easier and safer for anyone in the developing world. His idea could have a big potential in countries where food safety is an issue, namely in India, where he is originally from, and other Southeast Asian countries. <\/p>\n

“The tap water in Europe is safe to consume but in a South Asian context it is not. The smart mobile cover that I made is specifically relevant to nations like India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam etc. Streetside stalls, eateries and even tap water can be unsafe because of unhygienic conditions,” he says. “It\u2019s an everyday problem for millions of people.”<\/p>\n

Old tricks, new solution<\/h2>\n

After scanning, the food is treated with a sanitizing UV lamp on the phone cover, that kills the microorganisms within minutes. A final scan will show if the food is now safe to be consumed. <\/p>\n

“It\u2019s really great for liquids, because it works best at detecting what\u2019s on the surface, but could be used on all sorts of food,” says Bhaskar.<\/p>\n

The science was already there: UV light has long been used to kill micro-organisms. But having a small device that detects and treats the contamination is, according to Bhaskar, a breakthrough. <\/p>\n

Empowers people<\/h2>\n

The device is built as a smartphone cover and is powered by a solar panel so that – as a nice side effect – also works as a charger.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n

Picture of the smart cover which is a preliminary prototype model. Courtesy of Bhaskar Mitra<\/em><\/p>\n

Bhaskar came up with the idea soon after starting his PhD at the Department of Food Science at the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

“I work with food every day, so I wanted to do something with food and digital technology. And I wanted to do it in a way that would empower people,” he says. <\/p>\n

When price can come down – everyone<\/h2>\n

At the moment, he only has a handmade prototype and is working with colleagues at the Faculty of Science to develop the software. The telecommunication company Telenor has expressed interest in further developing the project. <\/p>\n

Bhaskar expects that the first customers would be travellers to South East Asia, but he hopes to be able to drive the price down enough to make it more widely available to people in developing countries. <\/p>\n

universitypost@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n

Do you have a good story? We would like to hear from you<\/a>. In the meantime, like us on Facebook<\/a> for features, guides and tips on upcoming events and follow us on Twitter<\/a> for links to other Copenhagen academia news stories.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prototype by University of Copenhagen PhD fellow is a smartphone cover that can test and treat food contamination<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs the water OK? His smartphone cover can test it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/is-the-water-ok-his-smartphone-cover-can-test-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is the water OK? 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A UV lamp on the phone cover can then treat the water – effectively transforming it into a device to treat food and water contamination.<\/p>\n<p>According to the inventor Bhaskar Mitra, a PhD fellow at the Department of Food Science at the University of Copenhagen, the phone will make life easier and safer for anyone in the developing world. His idea could have a big potential in countries where food safety is an issue, namely in India, where he is originally from, and other Southeast Asian countries. <\/p>\n<p>“The tap water in Europe is safe to consume but in a South Asian context it is not. The smart mobile cover that I made is specifically relevant to nations like India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam etc. Streetside stalls, eateries and even tap water can be unsafe because of unhygienic conditions,” he says. “It\u2019s an everyday problem for millions of people.”<\/p>\n<h2>Old tricks, new solution<\/h2>\n<p>After scanning, the food is treated with a sanitizing UV lamp on the phone cover, that kills the microorganisms within minutes. A final scan will show if the food is now safe to be consumed. <\/p>\n<p>“It\u2019s really great for liquids, because it works best at detecting what\u2019s on the surface, but could be used on all sorts of food,” says Bhaskar.<\/p>\n<p>The science was already there: UV light has long been used to kill micro-organisms. But having a small device that detects and treats the contamination is, according to Bhaskar, a breakthrough. <\/p>\n<h2>Empowers people<\/h2>\n<p>The device is built as a smartphone cover and is powered by a solar panel so that – as a nice side effect – also works as a charger.<\/p>\n<div class=\"dme-image dme-image-center dme-image-preset-0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/old_files\/smart-cover.png\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/div>\n<p><em>Picture of the smart cover which is a preliminary prototype model. Courtesy of Bhaskar Mitra<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Bhaskar came up with the idea soon after starting his PhD at the Department of Food Science at the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<p>“I work with food every day, so I wanted to do something with food and digital technology. And I wanted to do it in a way that would empower people,” he says. <\/p>\n<h2>When price can come down – everyone<\/h2>\n<p>At the moment, he only has a handmade prototype and is working with colleagues at the Faculty of Science to develop the software. The telecommunication company Telenor has expressed interest in further developing the project. <\/p>\n<p>Bhaskar expects that the first customers would be travellers to South East Asia, but he hopes to be able to drive the price down enough to make it more widely available to people in developing countries. <\/p>\n<p>universitypost@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n<p><em>Do you have a good story? We would like to <a href=\"http:\/\/universitypost.dk\/article\/how-share-stories-university-post\" target=\"_blank\">hear from you<\/a>. In the meantime, like us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UniversityPost\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> for features, guides and tips on upcoming events and follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UniversityPost\" target=\"_blank\"> Twitter<\/a> for links to other Copenhagen academia news stories.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":46,"name":"Science","slug":"science","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":46,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":831,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11488,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/bhaskar-mitra_-_2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4243"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31649,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4243\/revisions\/31649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}