Healthcare Protective Air Filtration

在重症监护场合，如治疗新冠肺炎患者时，使用传统的一次性医用口罩或FFP 2或FFP 3口罩，在使用和有效保护使用者方面存在不足。一次性口罩的正确安装是一个主要问题，测试表明，由于面部毛发或不适合不同面型的口罩，这类口罩的效率可能会降低30%以上。佩戴这些口罩会产生呼吸阻力，并会在口罩内积聚热量和水分，尤其是长时间佩戴时会感到不适和不舒服。事实上，医生的反馈在电视采访中得到了强调，他们在新冠肺炎的危急情况下工作，发现难以工作超过2小时。另一个突出的问题是佩戴此类口罩使医生和护士难以有效沟通，一些人报告求助于使用对讲机来帮助沟通。无法完全看到面部会使重症护理人员难以识别(因此需要在PP礼服上写下姓名和工作职能)，也无法解读面部表情和有效的语言交流。我们正在提议的保护性空气过滤系统使用引导气流通过面部来创建保护屏障，防止有害污染物颗粒的呼吸，从而比典型的FFP 2和FFP 3口罩提供更高的保护系数。空气屏障(在透明护面罩后面产生)不会覆盖面部，因此它是完全可见的，不会阻碍语言交流，也不会隐藏面部使护理专业人员之间的互动更加流畅和自然。它的主要好处是不会因高温和水分积累而引起不适，但事实上会产生一股清新的气流来呼吸，让使用者保持凉爽和平静。GEO有限公司使用行业标准的向内泄漏测试协议进行了模拟和物理测试，以验证他们开发的气流技术，结果证实其性能等于或优于性能最佳的一次性口罩，并且不会因为头发的面部形状而降低性能。GEO需要资金将这项技术开发成可行的商业产品。Geo是一家工业设计顾问公司，致力于为提供商用PAPR和SCBA试剂盒的客户成功设计和开发许多呼吸系统。在Covid大流行的发展过程中，市场已经打开，以提供医疗保健以外的PPE需求的巨大扩展。现在，在包括教育、酒店、零售、工业和办公环境在内的许多部门，安全地开展活动都需要有效的个人防护装备。这不仅增加了HPAF的市场潜力，还要求提供更多样化的产品和业务战略，以成功瞄准这些市场。

The use of conventional disposable surgical masks or FFP2 or FFP3 masks in critical care situations such as needed when treating covid-19 patients have disadvantages in use and in protecting users effectively.Correct fitting of disposable masks is a major issue, tests have shown efficiency of these types of masks can be reduced by over 30% due to facial hair or bad fitting around different face shapes.Wearing of these masks create breathing resistance and the build up of heat and moisture within the mask making them uncomfortable and unpleasant to wear particularly over extended periods of time. Indeed feedback from doctors has been highlighted on TV interviews working in critical covid -19 care situations where they have found it difficult to work for longer than 2 hours.Another issue highlighted by wearing these types of masks has made it difficult for doctors and nurses to communicate effectively, some reporting resorting to using walkie talkie radios to aid communication. Not being able to fully see the face makes recognition of the critical care worker difficult (hence the need to write the name and job function on PP gowns) and impossible to interpret facial expression and effective verbal communication.The protective air filtration system we are proposing uses guided air flows over the face to create a protective barrier from respiration of harmful contaminant particles providing increased protection factor over typical FFP2 and FFP3 masks. The air screen (generated behind a clear face guard) does not cover the face so it is fully visible, does not impede verbal communication and does not hide the face from view making interaction between care professionals much more fluid and natural.And the major benefit it does not cause discomfort from heat and moisture build up, but in fact creates a refreshing stream of air to breath keeping the user cool and calm.GEO ltd have simulated and physically tested using industry standard inward leakage test protocols to validate the air stream technology they have developed and have had results confirming performance equal to or better than best performing disposable masks and results which do not degrade performance due to facial shape of hair.GEO require funding to develop this technology into a viable commercial product. GEO are industrial design consultants that have worked on the successful design and development of many respiratory systems for clients delivering commercial PAPR and SCBA kit.During the progression of the covid pandemic the market has opened up to provide a vast extension to PPE requirement outside of healthcare. Effective PPE is now required in conducting activities safely in many sectors including education, hospitality, retail, industrial and office environments. This not only increases the market potential for HPAF but also requires a more diverse product offering and business strategy to successfully target these markets.