• Paddle operated mechanism for no-touch with sanitizer bottle
• No electricity required and maintenance-free
• Easy handling and portable, ideal for factory, school, home

After struggling for almost 4 weeks with sheer determination, Serve XL, a company based in Bengaluru comes up with India’s very own, first Infrared Thermometers to curb down the shortages nationwide. As the COVID positive cases keep on escalating, the infrared thermometers became the key to early detection of COVID-19 in the absence of adequate diagnostic kits, which is used widely for screening purpose in the airports, offices, malls, etc. However, it is awful to know that though the whole country is coming forward with a variety of advanced technologies, nobody actually paid attention to the primary need.

Speaking to the Machine Maker, Vikram Padki, Proprietor of Serve XL said, “with the outbreak of coronavirus, the infrared thermometer has become a necessity as mercury thermometers cannot be used for the fear of contamination in public places and after dealing with a lot of enquiries about the product, I researched and found that there was not even a single manufacturer in India to manufacture it. This motivated us and we began taking a shot at this issue.”

Our main objective was to help India in having its product rather than relying on imports

Development of Infrared Thermometer 

So, it all started with the sudden outbreak of COVID that Serve XL came across various enquiries regarding the infrared thermometers but as they never managed this sort of gadget, they began researching and shortly came to realise that none of the Indian companies was manufacturing such products. 

As a result, Vikram prepared a message and started circulating it over WhatsApp and email, appealing the electronics student communities, colleges, companies to come forward in manufacturing infrared thermometers. The message turned to be impactful, as it spread all across India and people started responding to it with great spirit and zeal. They formed a WhatsApp group to effectively communicate and share ideas. In fact, 3-4 companies came forward and started planning in this direction.

However, this enthusiasm didn’t last for too long, as everybody came to know that the core of the product, ‘the sensor’ isn’t accessible in India and must be imported. Since lockdown didn’t permit any movement, consequently, it became impossible, thus everyone halted. But rising against the odds, Vikram still kept the faith and didn’t give up, he proceeded with the unfinished development and he figured out to arrange the raw materials from nearby places and finally came up with the product.

Features of Infrared Thermometer 

The infrared thermometer is a non-contact type which means it does not require body contact to check temperatures and it reads the temperature within a fraction of minutes. The measuring distance between the thermometer and a person should be 1-3 cms and it can measure temperature between the range of 0-100° Celsius. It functions on a 9-volt battery, moreover, it comes either in degree Celsius or Fahrenheit unit, as they haven’t given options for configuring it since they wanted to keep the price as low as possible.

Adding to it, Vikram stated, “I observed that people are using it either in degree Celsius or in Fahrenheit, therefore while receiving the order we confirm through the customers which unit they prefer and accordingly we configure it and dispatch”. One more highlight of the product is, it is of pocket size. Now we generally spot securities of malls, societies etc using these thermometers to check the visitors, so whenever they aren’t using it, they simply can keep it in their pocket just like a mobile phone.

The temperature sensor is the heart of the product which captures the infrared rays emitted by any hot object and transfer these rays to the and electronics part which convert it into the unit and display it on the LED screen as the temperature

Vikram Padki
Proprietor of Serve XL

The various kinds of raw materials required for the thermometer included Arduino Pro Mini, MLX90614 Infrared temperature In, O LED display SSD-1306, laser diode, 9-volt battery, push-button, battery clip and connecting wires. Vikram said that the core technology was not created by them. They took assistance from the internet but he recommended that anybody can build up this including engineering students, he even appealed to the manufacturers to produce this item in their own place to cater to the market needs in their locality.

Challenges in the project

Vikram clarified that the lockdown affected them severely as he wasn’t able to step out of his house and arranging permission to pass almost killed 3 weeks. Procuring essential components, amidst lockdown was another hurdle, he began contacting few people who are involved in industrial works and managed to get few components from them, which were stocked in their home, initially running door to door. Besides, the final enclosure and stickering part appeared as another obstacle, which they performed two days prior to the launch when the government showed some leniency in the lockdown. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any support from the people who were supposed to help us, neither the government nor the health department. I have approximately written 25 mails for assistance, beginning from the state government, health minister up to the central government, but the support was zero from their side.

The lack of support, transportation of materials and restrictions in movement somehow, slowed down the entire process. After a lot of struggle, they managed to get 30 sets of components, which they manufactured and started selling in their known circles

High Accuracy of Infrared Thermometer

However, to test the accuracy of the product, they tested more than 30 individuals and even took more than 200 trials during the R&D period. They even compared their product with 3 distinct models that are being imported and furthermore tested with a NABL calibrator (which is the standard ) and accomplished the accuracy level of – or + 0.4 degree Celsius. Padki claims that they are the only suppliers to provide test and calibration certificate for every instrument.

Currently, they priced the product for Rs 4000 + GST, which can further fluctuate once they begin large scale manufacturing. Right now in order to get better, they are still investing their time in R&D, Vikram includes that once they complete the entire development which fulfills the parameters, they will start approaching ICMR and NRDC. And he is confident enough that Serve XL will traverse this.

Serve XL is one of the leading dealers in process automation instruments in Karnataka and it was established in 1989 with a motto of excellent service to customers in the field of industrial instrumentation. It serves the process industries, steel, automobile industries, etc.

For any more information contact SERVE XL at https://www.servexl.in