The
retired Fiat Research Centre engineer is known as Mr ABS for the
anti-lock braking system he created that is now standard in all
motor vehicles.
At the age of 84, he has devised a gadget about the size of an
electric kettle which creates local air currents that aim to
stop the circulation of tiny droplets expelled when people speak
- potentially hindering the spread of COVID-19 infections.
"We've called it the Biostopper and it's used to create an
aerodynamic field, so that all the breath that someone emits
when talking comes back to them," he explained.
Palazzetti started work on the device two months ago, hoping to
address the difficulties of social distancing in schools,
offices, bars and restaurants as the pandemic that has killed
more than 548,000 people took hold.
He is now working with a team at the Politecnico di Torino
(University of Turin) to fine tune and test the product.
"I can't tell you so many technical details because we are still
in the patenting phase," Professor Marco Simonetti of the
Politecnico's energy department told Reuters.
"The concept is simple, the ambition is not to kill the virus,
but to reduce the distance (between people) safely," he added.
The Biostopper was initially designed to allow two people to get
closer together, but Simonetti said it could work for small
groups.
"We are concentrating on talking, because with sneezing we would
need a much more invasive system," he said.
The Politecnico team hopes to have a prototype by the end of
July and to go to market by the end of the summer.
Mr ABS, who retired in 1997, is behind a string of other
inventions, including the TOTEM (Total Energy Module), a small
heat and power generator, and an air conditioning system called
Aircare which also recovers energy.
"The ideas come to me, it's not like I'm thinking," he said. "My
regret is that I have a lot of ideas that are asking to be
brought to light, but it's really difficult."
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi; Editing by Josephine Mason and Mark
Potter)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](column_spacer.png)
|
|