Title
: AirDoc: A low cost electronic higly protected respirator for health workers
Description
: Thousands of health workers have either tested positive for Covid-19 or have been quarantined in different countries, since the pandemic started. Doctors, nurses and the staff at hospitals around the country are putting themselves at risk while trying to identify and treat those infected with Covid-19, and to stop the virus from spreading further. However, exposure and a significant lack of protective gear are now fueling concerns for the safety of these healthcare personnel in Bangladesh. Health workers say their fear of getting exposed is increasing as they do not have adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) — like masks, gloves, and gowns — and infected patients could walk into the hospital at any moment. They are at the highest risk of contamination by COVID-19. As we have observed over 200 health care workers got affected by COVID-19 while treating the patients. Since Coronavirus is a respiratory virus hence if the virus could be stopped from getting into the respiratory system, the health workers will be safe. The regular masks are not 100% safe and hard to keep wearing all the time. Many doctors have shared their concern and posted in social media pictures of their face with horrible spots/lines from wearing facemask for hours. We have started a process to build a low cost electronic respirator that can guarantee elimination of the virus before sending the air to the nose of the health worker. The electronic respirator will take in the air and will constantly purify it using industry grade filtration system. The device architecture is simple, its sized like a walkie talkie.A tube comes out from the air filtration chamber and directly goes into the head-worn face shield which will be provided with the air filtration device. The device takes in the bad air, purifies it and delivers the air through a pipe to the face shield. To make sure maximum efficiency, we are following up with the research team of other universities who are working on the same concept. We are trying to make the design as comfortable and secure as possible while keeping the cost lower.
