Prevention
Title:
Medical PVC material protective mask with a replaceable SMS filter
Short description:
Production of reusable protective masks with a replaceable SMS filter, made of locally available materials
Author:
Šime CNC Mašinska obrada
Requested Budget:
40.000 USD (co-funding ensured)
Time frame:
3 months
Problem: The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that personal protective equipment (PPE) is scarce in a large-scale crisis. The health systems across the globe, including Serbia, experienced a serious deficiency of PPE, especially when it comes to protective face masks. Even after the peak of the pandemic masks are still necessary for medical workers and are being recommended for the general population as a precautionary measure in containing the spread of the virus. Dependence on import of PPE, including masks, affects their availability and price.
Solution: This solution uses local materials and innovative design to produce reusable masks locally and on a wider scale. These masks are made of medical PVC material, as flexible and adaptable to individual facial contours, and have a replaceable SMS material filter. The filter is designed to prevent droplets from spreading to the outside air, and to prevent droplet transmission, with a filtration effect of over 95%, which puts it in the FFP2 class. The masks can be sterilized in boiling water or a sterilizer for a repeated use. All materials necessary for production are available locally and it is possible to produce large quantities of these masks in a short time. Additional funds would enable the producer to reach the production capacity of 30.000 masks daily.
Additional info: By extensively increasing the efficiency of the protective masks production, this project could have a high impact on local manufacturing capacities. The team has conducted testing of the finished product for medical reliability, product patenting in Serbia, design protection for the EU, and initiated the certification process (attestation) EN149:2001(FFP2). They have also created a logistics plan for suppliers of materials and developed a production plan and a list of potential partners, as well as distributors for Serbia, Eastern Europe and the EU.