What are Touchless Fixtures?
Building designers and maintenance workers face major challenges when it comes to plumbing fixtures in large public buildings. Some patrons may decide not to flush the toilet or urinal after visiting the bathroom. Others may unknowingly leave harmful bacteria or viruses on the knob of the sink or the handle of the toilet. Vandals may decide to stuff paper products into the fixtures, or deliberately leave the faucets running. Even the most conscientious member of the public must make contact with a knob or handle in order to operate the fixture properly. In order to address this situation, building designers and engineers in the 1980s began to work on fixtures which would not require a human to touch a possibly contaminated handle or knob. Using infrared sensors to detect users, the first ‘touchless fixtures’ were installed in sports arenas. These touchless fixtures could be set to flush automatically after contact with the infrared beam was broken. Sinks equipped with infrared sensors
