Self-Sterilizing Door Handle Wins Concept Design Award, Needs to be Real

Door handles are dirty, dirty things. Especially ones that you find in public places, where hundreds, if not thousands of hands touch it on a daily basis. And while these door handles may get cleaned every night (hopefully), it's just not enough to make sure that germs aren't being spread about everywhere, getting people sick. That's why we need a door handle that sterilizes itself. And why it's not surprising that when someone designs a concept for one, they win a concept design award.

The self-sterilizing door handle was designed by Choi Bomi, and the design won a Red Dot Design Concept award. It's a pretty simple, straight-forward idea. Door handles are dirty, so we need a way to make sure that they're clean. Using UV lights, When the door handle is not being used, the UV lamps turn on, and start sterilizing the handle while it's not being used. As soon as someone touches it, and turns it, then the UV lamps turn off. So, when the handle returns to its resting position, the lamps turn back on, and start killing bacteria and germs. A great idea, to say the least — so let's hope it actually happens.

[via Yanko Design]