A Unified Experimental and Modelling Approach to Determine the Infectious Viral Bio-Aerosol Filtration Efficacy of Face Coverings.

确定面罩的传染性病毒生物气溶胶过滤功效的统一实验和建模方法。

• 批准号: 10074419
• 金额: $ 1.57万
• 依托单位: VIRUSTATIC LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10074419
• 关键词: Unified; Experimental; Modelling; Approach; Determine

Virustatic launched their flagship product, a breathable face covering called the Virustatic(r) SHIELD, in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Extensive laboratory testing and user feedback combined to give an excellent body of evidence that the SHIELD offers greater breathability than other commercial face coverings while retaining its viral aerosol filtration efficacy due to the use of a novel antiviral coating that improved filtration and reusability. However, full quantitative analysis of real-world filtration efficacy of face masks of all designs for infectious viral aerosols has not, to our knowledge, been achieved in its entirety.Pandemic preparedness has now been recognised as being of utmost importance due to the global experience of Covid-19\. Despite this, all standardised testing for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) face coverings has either been focussed on manual work (where filtration of solid particles is the key) or in a hospital setting for large liquid droplets, but without a focus on filtering airborne pathogenic aerosols. It is our opinion that the current standard testing for PPE face coverings does not adequately test the efficacy of face coverings for practical applications, considering fit, leakage and viral aerosol capture.New tests that consider these issues will not only give valuable information on existing face masks, but also provide a better understanding of how different parameters such as material choice, structure, active coatings and form fit could inform the design of novel face coverings. There are currently no tools, either experimental or computational, available to designers and innovators to predict how different design choices will affect the actual real-world efficacy of their face masks.The aim of this project is to design and test a novel method for describing face covering efficacy for viral aerosol filtration so that we have better tools to design and test the best face coverings for future pandemics. In support of this we will also develop a modelling suite to understand how different design parameters effect filtration efficacy to aid in the design for new innovative solutions to pandemic prevention.

Virustatic于二零二零年新冠肺炎疫情期间推出其旗舰产品，名为Virustatic（r）SHIELD的透气面罩。广泛的实验室测试和用户反馈相结合，提供了一个很好的证据，盾牌提供更大的透气性比其他商业面部覆盖，同时保留其病毒气溶胶过滤功效，由于使用了一种新型的抗病毒涂层，提高了过滤和可重复使用性。然而，就我们所知，尚未完全实现对所有设计的口罩对传染性病毒气溶胶的真实过滤效果的全面定量分析。尽管如此，个人防护设备（PPE）面罩的所有标准化测试都集中在手工作业（其中固体颗粒的过滤是关键）或医院环境中的大液滴，但没有重点过滤空气中的致病性气溶胶。我们认为，考虑到贴合性、泄漏和病毒气溶胶捕获，当前PPE面罩的标准测试不能充分测试面罩在实际应用中的功效。考虑到这些问题的新测试不仅可以提供有关现有面罩的有价值信息，还可以更好地了解不同参数（如材料选择、结构、活性涂层和形状配合可以为新型面部覆盖物的设计提供信息。目前，无论是实验还是计算工具，都没有提供给设计师和创新者来预测不同的设计选择将如何影响他们的口罩的实际真实效果。本项目的目的是设计和测试一种描述病毒气溶胶过滤的面部覆盖效果的新方法，以便我们有更好的工具来设计和测试未来流行病的最佳面部覆盖物。为支持这一点，我们还将开发一个模型套件，以了解不同的设计参数如何影响过滤效果，以帮助设计新的创新解决方案来预防流行病。