ICONSAD’21 22-25 December 2021

Smart Contactless Automatic Gel Dispenser: Development and

Deployment in Senegal to Tackle Covid19
Ibrahima KA*,1, Serigne Mbacke KA1, Saliou Diouf1, Mamadou Niang1
*
ika@daust.org, ORCID: 0000-0002-9952-9806
1
Electrical & Computer Science Department, Dakar American University of Science and Technology, Somone,
Senegal

Abstract The surge of Covid19 cases in Senegal raises the fear of a high death toll. The
limitation of the virus transmission within the population may prevent that from happening.
Frequent hand sanitization is highly recommended and promoted by the local authorities. In
this paper, the design and deployment of a smart contactless automatic gel dispenser is
presented as an effort to participate in the fight against the Covid19 by locally providing
affordable and effective systems. The design specifications that guided the technical approach
used to develop the device are explained. A low-cost Arduino based platform is associated with
an ultrasonic sensor to detect hands and automatically deliver gel for sanitization. Particular
care is taken to calibrate the ultrasonic sensor and ensure that untimely activations of dispenser
are avoid-ed. Two versions of packaging are presented. 3D printing is 1st used but CNC
machining is later chosen due to the need of production time reduction.

Keywords: Covid19, Hand Sanitizer, Ultrasonic Sensor.

INTRODUCTION

F IRST SARS-CoV-2 case in Senegal was recorded on March 02, 2020 according to the
Senegalese Ministry of Health. A nationwide plan was then launch to tackle the propagation
of the virus. The rapid and easy transmission of coronaviruses presents a unique challenge,
particularly in developing countries such as Senegal [1]. One of the main concerns is linked to
the fact that the health system is not strong enough to handle a major Covid19 outbreak that
will most likely result in a high death toll [2] [3] [4]. Consequently, prevention measures such
as hand sanitization are highly promoted and recommended to the population in order to limit
the virus transmission. Those measures include tests, quarantine, disinfection and
communication.
Prevention tools such as hand sanitizers are unfortunately available in limited quantity in the
country. It is thus relevant to focus on deployment of low-cost and locally made technologies
mainly developed in engineering and research units of Senegalese universities. A number of
institutions like the Dakar American University of Science and Technology started to work
towards the implementation of such solution [4] [5].
In that context, this paper introduces a smart contactless automatic gel dispenser which aims
to be deployed in hospitals where Covid19 patients are interned and in places where public
gathering is happening (markets, schools, companies, hotels, etc.). A set of requirements was
defined to fit the context of Senegal and facilitate the use of the developed device. The goal is
to simplify the device and ensure that care is taken to not disseminate the virus through the use
 International Congress on Scientific Advances (ICONSAD’21)

of the gel dispenser.

The structure of the paper is as follows: Section 2 is dedicated to the definition of the design
specifications; Section 3 covers the technical approach used to developed the gel dispenser and
Section 4 presents the methodology of tests and deployment. Finally, the conclusion of this
work and perspective are discussed.

A. Design Specifications
The smart contactless automatic gel dispenser needs to fit in the context of Senegal, in terms
of environment, cost and usage. Thus, a set of requirements are to be taken into account in the
design process.
First, the packaging of the gel dispenser is a critical parameter since specific use cases can
vary from indoor to outdoor locations of the device, depending on the type of targeted public
gathering. When used outdoor, the gel dispenser will face harsh conditions in a dusty and sunny
environment but, needs still to function well. If not well protected, the device will ultimately
fail to work. Furthermore, the packaging has to be designed in a way that allow easy access to
the gel tank that needs to be refilled usually by nontechnical operator.
Second, detailed considerations will guide the choice of the electronic components to limit
the cost and facilitate the production process; specially in the context of Covid19 where supplies
are not easily available. Delivery delays are consistently increased to up to months and cost
raised substantially for basic electronic components like resistors.
Last, technical parameters such as power supply, dimensions and weight, user-friendliness
and reliability are included as key parameters in the design specifications of the gel dispenser.
Table 1 presents a summary of the main parameters and the technical guidelines applied to the
design of the gel dispenser.

Table 1. Summary of the design specifications.

Parameters Technical Guidelines
Packaging 3D Printing, CNC Machining
Choice of electronic Low-cost microcontroller, easy
components supply
Power supply Solar or grid-connected
Dimensions Compact
Weight Less than 1kg
User-friendliness Ergonomic
Reliability Long-term usage

B. Technical Design Approach

The technical design section dives into details on how the smart contactless automatic gel
dispenser is made. Electronic design, hand detection sensor, power supply and packaging
solutions are presented. Fig. 1 shows the block diagram in which functional unit of the gel
dispenser are represented. Processing and control are done with an Arduino Nano board that
drivers a 1 channel relay. A peristatic pump is con-trolled by the relay to deliver the gel when
activated. Non-contact hand detection sensor provides information to the Arduino board and a
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power supply unit delivers a 12V DC voltage.

Fig. 1. Block Diagram of Smart Contactless Automatic Gel Dispenser

1) Electronic design
The electronic design of the gel dispenser relies on the open-source low-cost Arduino
platform well-suited for prototyping electronics and digital technologies [6]. Arduino offers
hardware components with microcontrollers and a software used to communicate with them
(Arduino IDE).
Among the wide range of Arduino boards, the Arduino Nano is chosen to host the program
of the gel dispenser and to control the gel distribution depending on information delivered by a
detection sensor. The Arduino Nano V3.0 is a low-cost micro-controller built with the
ATmega328 with 22 digital I/O pins and 8 Analog I/O pins. Relevant technical specifications
of the board are presented in Table 2.
Along with the Arduino Nano board and the hand detection sensor, an actuator is used to
deliver the gel. The microcontroller is turning the pump on and off through a 1-channel relay.
A 12V DC micro peristaltic diaphragm pump with the specifications in Table 3 is used.

Table 2. Technical Specifications of the Arduino Nano V3.0

Microcontroller ATMega328
Operating voltage 5V
Input Voltage 7-12 V
Power Consumption 19 mA
Flash Memory 32 KB of which 2 KB used by bootloader
Clock Speed 16 MHz
Analog IN Pins 8
Digital I/O Pins 22
Weight 7g
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Table 3. Technical Specifications of the 12V DC pump

Microcontroller ATMega328
Operating voltage 12V
Load current ≤100mA
No-load Flow (water) 1000~1200L/min
Diameter: 27mm
Weight 60g

2) Hand Detection Sensor

The hand detection feature of the gel dispenser is crucial since no contact should be allowed
between the user and the device in the context of the Covid19. Moreover, a timely delivery of
the gel by an accurate hand detection system is required to fulfill the economic design
specification. A distance range of 5cm is set to activate the device and deliver the gel. A low-
cost HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor is used to perform the detection function. The calibration
process of the sensor is described in the subsection below.

Table 4. Technical Specifications of the Ultrasonic sensor HC-SR04

Operating voltage 5V DC
Current 15 mA
Frequency 40 kHz
Measurement range 2cm - 400cm
Resolution 0.3cm
Measuring angle 30 degrees
Trigger Input Signal 10us TTL pulse
Dimensions 45*20*15mm

The Ultrasonic sensor emits high-frequency sound wave (40 kHz) through one of its
piezoelectric transducers and detects the returning pulses (echo) in the air through another
transducer and converts it to proportional voltage variation that the Arduino Nano will process
[7]. The velocity at which the ultrasonic wave travels in the air is affected by parameters such
as ambient temperature and humidity. The technical specifications of the ultrasonic sensor HC-
SR04 is displayed in Table 4.
The working principle of HC-SR04 illustrated in Fig. 2 can be described as fol-lowing:
1. Using IO trigger for at least 10us high level signal
2. The Module automatically sends eight 40 kHz and detect whether there is a pulse signal
back
3. IF the signal back, through high level, time of high output IO duration is the time from
sending ultrasonic to returning
4. The estimated is then calculated from Equation 1.
1
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 2 ∗ (𝐻𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 ∗ 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑) (1)

The speed of the sound is approximated as 340 m/s. Unfortunately, this value depends on
parameters such as the ambient temperature, ambient humidity and propagation path of the
signal. According to [8], With an increase in air temperature by 1°C, the speed of sound in it
 International Congress on Scientific Advances (ICONSAD’21)

increases by 0.6 m/s. Consequently, if the distance of the hands is estimated using the equation
1, inaccuracies can lead to untimely activation of the pump and ultimately a waste of the gel.

Fig. 2. Ultrasonic Sensor Principle (Image Source)

To tackle that issue and ensure that the device activation only happens upon detection of
hands, calibration of the ultrasonic sensor is performed under working conditions (Fig. 3). An
experimental calibration function is defined using excel to express the hand distance with
respect to duration of the echo pulse as shown in Equation 2.

𝑑ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 = 𝛼 ∗ 𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑠𝑒 + β ()

Where α and β are experimental parameters estimated through the calibration process. The
parameters α and β are then used into the Arduino code to estimate more accurately the distance
of the hands.
In Fig. 3, HC-SR04 is positioned in front of an obstacle that is moved from 2cm to 10cm
with a step of 0.5cm. A meter is used to track the distance of the obstacle and the calibration
data are recorded through an Arduino sketch. For each set distance, the detection time is at the
echo pin of the ultrasonic sensor is recorded.
Calibration graphs for 5 ultrasonic sensors are shown in Fig. 4 in the range from 2cm to
10cm. It is worth to note that all sensors display a near linear behavior. Thus, a linear trendline
is used to estimate the parameters α and β for each sensor as shown in Table 5. The R-squared
coefficients of regression are all higher than 0.98.
Fig. 5 presents the graphical representations of accuracy and precision estimation for two
distance targets. The measurements for each target are performed ten times with a point of
acquisition every 60s. It allows to visualize the closeness of measurements to the reference
value. The measured distances for a target of 2cm are generally close to that target while
measurements for target of 5cm present discrepancies with an error of approximately 0.6cm.
International Congress on Scientific Advances (ICONSAD’21)

Fig. 3. Ultrasonic Sensor Calibration Setup

Table 5. Calibration parameters of 5 ultrasonic sensors

Sensors 𝜶 𝛃 R2
Sensor1 0.017 -0.036 0.987
Sensor2 0.017 -0.067 0.982
Sensor3 0.017 -0.064 0.988
Sensor4 0.016 0.345 0.981
Sensor5 0.017 -0.271 0.988
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10.5

9.5

8.5

7.5
distance (cm)

6.5 Sensor1
Sensor2
5.5 Sensor3
Sensor4
4.5
Sensor5
3.5

2.5

1.5
100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
time (us)

Fig. 4. Calibration graphs for 5 ultrasonic sensors

Fig. 5. Accuracy and precision of HC-SR04 sensor for two distance targets (2cm and 5cm)

3) Power Supply
The power supply unit provides a 12V DC voltage to the Arduino Nano V3.0 and to the
pump. Both devices require a maximum current of 120mA. The external source can be a solar
or and a standard DC voltage power supply. The schematic in Fig. 6 shows the electrical wiring
of the components.
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Fig. 6. Schematics of the gel dispenser

4) Packaging
As stated in the design specifications of the gel dispenser, the package is crucial to
protect the components. A 3D design is first considered as shown in Fig. 8. The 3D printing
time is approximately 8 hours for the full package in standard quality. Be-sides the possible
leaking of the gel with that quality of printing, this duration highly reduces the production
efficiency. Another issue is related to the filament supply delay and its high cost.
Another alternative is to use a CNC machined package with a manufacturing duration
of 30 minutes. Alucobon or wood panels are suitable to make the package. Fig. 8 shows the
design where the top part is used to house the electronic components and the bottom part to
integrate the bottle of gel.
 International Congress on Scientific Advances (ICONSAD’21)

Fig. 7. Gel dispenser package by 3D Printing

Fig. 8. Gel dispenser package by CNC machining

5) Gel Dispenser workflow

The gel dispenser runs according to the workflow shown in Fig. 9. At start up, a continuous
cycle of distance measurement is performed by the ultrasonic sensor. For detection distances
higher than 5cm, the relay is deactivated and the pump remains off. Distance estimation is done
every 1s. if a measurement is lower than 5cm, a second measurement is performed in a row
after a delay of 100ms. The goal is here to confirm the hand detection before activating the
relay and delivering gel through the pump and thus avoid untimely detections. After
confirmation of the detection distance, the relay is activated for 100ms for the pump to delivery
enough gel for hand sanitization. The relay is then deactivated and a delay of 2s is observed
 International Congress on Scientific Advances (ICONSAD’21)

after a gel delivery to avoid waste of the gel when transitioning between two users.

Fig. 9. Smart Gel Dispenser Workflow

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C. Tests and Deployment

The overall goal of the smart contactless gel dispenser is to avoid Covid19 transmission in
the environmental context of hospitals and in places where public gathering occurs. A series of
onsite tests were performed before deployment to confirm the working concept.
A first deployment within the perimeter of the Dakar American University of Science and
Technology was done. Students and visitors used the gel dispenser when entering lecture halls
and residence halls. Second, 20 devices were deployed to a hotel in Somone and used at outdoor
places like restaurants and entrances.
The tests performed during a time period of one month yields good results in terms of usage
of the gel dispenser.
Following the onsite tests in Somone, 50 gel dispensers were sent in Dakar to public places
and 50 others dedicated to hospitals where Covid19 patients were taken care of.

CONCLUSION
The Covid19 pandemic situation challenges scientists and engineers to quickly develop and
deploy solutions on which communities can rely to tackle the virus. The smart contactless gel
dispenser helps local population in Senegal to avoid the trans-mission and the spread of the
virus. Based on the low-cost open-source Arduino technology, the device is able to sanitize
hands with a drop of gel. Tests, deployment and usage of 100 devices in hospitals and hotels
yield positive results.
The current design can be fully powered using a solar system. The device could in future
work integrate a contactless temperature measurement function and a remote messaging feature
for cases that trigger an alarm, i.e., high temperature value that means suspected Covid19
infection. A data logger can as well be implanted to keep track the usage of the device and
monitor the amount of gel delivered.

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