INDUSTRY NEWS C


ovid-19 has affected almost everyone in one way or another. It’s certainly placed a corona-shaped spanner in


the transport industry works. The industry has done its part to


help in the short term, with many companies adapting existing processes to help with healthcare, in particular with making PPE such as gowns, masks and visors. Some have been more ambitious.


Ford and the Ohio State University have teamed up to trial a new system to decontaminate police cars. Jesse Kwiek, a laboratory supervisor at The University department of microbiology says, “Our studies with Ford indicate that exposing coronaviruses to temperatures of 56°C for 15 minutes reduces the viral concentration by greater than 99% on interior surfaces and materials used inside police Interceptor utility vehicles.” So Ford’s solution has been to adapt


the HVAC system in the 2013-19 model range to do just that – cook for 15 minutes, so hard to reach areas can be sterilised. Once the occupants are safely out of


the vehicle, the process can begin, as signalled by the hazard lights flashing in a pre-set pattern. On completion a cooling phase occurs before the lights signal a different pattern to indicate it’s safe to reuse the vehicle. Stephen Tyler from Ford says,


“Law enforcement officers are being dispatched as emergency responders in some cases where ambulances may not be available. During one trip, officers may be transporting a coronavirus patient to a hospital, while another trip may involve an occupant who may be asymptomatic. Officers can now use this self-cleaning mode as an extra layer of protection inside the vehicle in areas where manual cleaning is prone to be overlooked.”


TAKING A BREATH OF FRESH AIR The UK-based automotive technology expert Prodrive has worked with Cambridge University to create a low-cost ventilator prototype. The Open Ventilator System Initiative (OVSI) unit has been created with non-medical supply chain parts to accelerate production. The university’s Whittle


Temperature testing an interior


Laboratory led with the design stage before Prodrive built a full working prototype ready for production. Project leader Professor Axel Zeitler


from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology says, “Fulfilling the unique requirements of local clinicians was key to this project. Clinicians told us the ventilator needed to cover the wide spectrum of patient ventilation requirements, and therefore work in three modes – non-invasive, mandatory or patient-triggered ventilation.” Over five weeks 20 Prodrive


engineers designed the electronic and electrical system architecture and wrote new software to control the unit. Prodrive chairman David Richards


says: “It’s a true vindication of our strategy of applying a motorsport


This is Ford’s Dagenham plant


culture to complex technical challenges that require an innovative approach.” Two South African companies, Defy,


a domestic appliance manufacturer, and Denel, a state-owned business are looking to lead mass production.


BACK TO THE DAY JOB Restarting production has not been straightforward. Some of the car makers started with a skeleton staff only to see virus outbreaks stall production. There have been countermeasures


to this though. For example, Bentley Motors researched and published its own Covid-19 risk assessment, triggering numerous changes in the way the factory is organised. After the first week back (in May), Dr Astrid Fontaine, member of the board for People, Digitalisation and IT, said, “Our objective, from the very beginning, was to make Bentley the safest place any colleague could be. We walked every inch of the site, looking for areas to improve and new methods to introduce. The result was 250 safety measures implemented covering all of our areas, and helping to protect every one of our colleagues, their families and our customers.” Initially production was at around 50%, with all the distancing and other measures in place. One-way systems have been employed around the site, washing facilities adapted and screens


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