Low-Cost Powered Respirators Allowing Service Businesses to Resume Operation

COVID-19传播的容易程度导致大多数依赖人与人之间接触的服务业务停止运营。这对许多经济部门造成了巨大的经济损失，包括医疗保健（如牙医），个人服务（如理发师），小型零售商，修理店等，此外，这些企业中的许多企业可能不得不关闭数月，导致其中许多企业无法生存。那些幸存下来的企业将进一步面临严重的消费者恐惧，因此在封锁解除后的较长时间内收入减少。 我们迫切需要的是能够让这些企业中的大多数尽快重新开业的技术，即使是在产能减少的情况下，同时防止COVID-19的传播。在这个项目中，我们正在迅速开发一种低成本的动力呼吸器系统，使服务提供者能够接近客户，传播风险可以忽略不计。 医院的经验表明，简单的口罩，即使有面罩，在近距离内基本上是无效的，服务提供者必须戴上全脸口罩才能有效保护。然而，需要新的发展，因为除了呼吸器和消耗品（即过滤器）的全球短缺之外，所有当前的呼吸器系统都将佩戴者呼出的空气直接排放到消费者的面部。显然，这只为佩戴者提供了保护，而不是为消费者提供保护。与向大多数企业和公众分发数千万个全脸呼吸器和过滤器相比，新的呼吸器系统将更加便宜和可行。

The ease with which COVID-19 spreads has caused most service businesses, which rely on person-to-person contact, to cease operation. This is causing massive economic damage in many sectors of the economy, including healthcare (e.g. dentists), personal services (e.g. hairdressers), small retailers, repair shops, etc. Furthermore, it is likely that many of these businesses will have to remain closed for many months, leading to many of them not surviving. The businesses that do survive will further face significant consumer fear, and therefore reduced income, for an extended duration after the lock-downs are lifted. What is urgently needed is technology that will allow most of these businesses to re-open as soon as possible, even at reduced capacity, while simultaneously preventing the spread of COVID-19\. In this project we are rapidly developing a low-cost powered respirator system that will allow service deliverers to be in close proximity to customers with negligible risk of transmission. Hospital experience has shown that simple face masks, even with face shields, are largely ineffective in close proximity and service providers have to wear full-face masks for effective protection. However, a new development is needed since, in addition to the worldwide shortage of respirators and consumables (i.e. filters), all current respirator systems exhaust the wearers exhaled air directly into the face of the customer. Clearly this only provides protection for the wearer, and not the customer.The new respirator system would be far cheaper and more viable than distributing tens of millions of full-face respirators and a supply of filters to most businesses and members of the public.