COVID-19 Response: 'Pneumask' is a Reusable Snorkeling Mask
Personal protective equipment, or PPE, is vital for healthcare workers in a crisis like COVID-19. Many hospitals have run out of N95 masks and other PPE like face masks, face shields, and elastomeric respirators. In the U.S. and worldwide, there is an urgent need for quick solutions to meet the current demands. A Stanford University lab is creating several open projects in response to the crisis. One open project, "Pneumask," involves repurposing full-face snorkel masks with a 3D-printed N95 filter attachment as a reusable solution. A working group document of the project is available here .
Transcript
00:00:05 - Hi, I represent a team of engineers, doctors, designers and businesses that have collaborated on a project to quickly distribute reusable PPE to healthcare workers that are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept is to adapt a full-face snorkel mask to interface with an existing supply of rated filters. And we call this project Pneumask. We're partnering with supply corporations and with networks of hospitals
00:00:35 to hopefully roll out a product pending approval by the FDA. We've designed this adapter that interfaces with the snorkel piece of the mask, and then the filter attaches to this port here. And this is a standard size filter, so this filter for example is a completely different brand, and it also fits into the same port. And to test if the seal is working properly, you can try inhaling while covering the top portion. This is the only place where air
00:01:17 should be able to get into the mask. And when you cover that port you should feel the air inside the mask suck up against your face due to the negative pressure. So. It's very clear from the test to the user that that seal is working. So to take the mask off, you just press the clip on the back, and you don't need to touch the front of the mask,
00:01:43 which might be contaminated. So it's then important to disassemble this and to clean it according to the parameters in the documents that we have published online specifically the autoclaving of the main mask. And then the decontamination procedures for the filter and the printed coupler. So now I'm gonna talk about the second piece of our design, which is what happens when the hospital runs out of these respiratory filters?
00:02:12 So we've designed a second module, or a component of this system which looks like this, and it fits just right into the standard ISO port. And these industrial grade 3M filters fit right onto this system and there're two of them on this part because they have higher resistance. But it's a standard port for both these P100s and also for these cartridge filters of the same standard port. So you can go from the medical filters supply
00:02:46 to the industrial supply and there are two different sources of this supply chain. We're working with Boston Scientific very closely and the University of Utah along with the suppliers. And so we're kind of doing this giant international collaboration, specifically to try to get this stuff to people. This is a stopgap solution for a problem of shortage of N95 masks. And as soon as those production lines come up,
00:03:17 this won't be as necessary, but the point is that we need a solution tomorrow.