Design and implementation of a prototype active infrared sensor controlled automatic sliding door for mitigation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

The door is an essential part of any structure that provides access and security of lives and properties. The manual operation of a door could be cumbersome and laborious when the traffic volume is high. Also, it has been observed that doors could serve as a medium of spreading the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Therefore, a prototype automatic sliding door that plays a crucial role in curbing the spread of this infectious diseases has been designed and implemented in this paper. The design of the prototype sliding door is in two parts namely; the structural part and the automation part. The structural design of the door was achieved using the Microsoft Visio 2016 while the design of the automation system was achieved using express printed circuit board. The implementation of the structural part was achieved using 1 inch particle board while the implementation of the automation system was based on the components like the active infrared sensor, resistors (10 kΩ), capacitor (1000 µF), transistors (TIP41 Q8, BC548 Q7), LED indicators, press button switch, pulley system, drive belt, stepper motor (IP65), and ATMEGA 8 microcontroller. The result of the tests carried out on the door showed that the prototype automatic sliding door was characterized by average opening time, closing time, delay time, and optimal sensing range of 3.10 s, 3.05 s, 5.72 s, and 23.5 cm, respectively. It can therefore be concluded from this work that the prototype automatic sliding door is effective in overriding the manual operation of the door.