TY - JOUR
T1 - A Rapidly Deployable Test Suite for Respiratory Protective Devices in the COVID-19 Pandemic
AU - Blad, Thijs
AU - Nijssen, Joep
AU - Broeren, Freek
AU - Boogaard, Bob
AU - Lampaert, Stefan
AU - van den Toorn, Stefan
AU - van den Dobbelsteen, John
AU - Spaander, Joshua
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Introduction: The current COVID-19 pandemic has caused large shortages in personal protective equipment, leading to hospitals buying their supplies from alternative suppliers or even reusing single-use items. Equipment from these alternative sources first needs to be tested to ensure that they properly protect the clinicians that depend on them. This work demonstrates a test suite for protective face masks that can be realized rapidly and cost effectively, using mainly off-the-shelf as well as 3D printing components. Materials and Methods: The proposed test suite was designed and evaluated in order to assess its safety and proper functioning according to the criteria that are stated in the European standard norm EN149:2001+A1 7. These include a breathing resistance test, a CO2 build-up test, and a penetration test. Measurements were performed for a variety of commercially available protective face masks for validation. Results: The results obtained with the rapidly deployable test suite agree with conventional test methods, demonstrating that this setup can be used to assess the filtering properties of protective masks when conventional equipment is not available. Discussion: The presented test suite can serve as a starting point for the rapid deployment of more testing facilities for respiratory protective equipment. This could greatly increase the testing capacity and ultimately improve the safety of healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
AB - Introduction: The current COVID-19 pandemic has caused large shortages in personal protective equipment, leading to hospitals buying their supplies from alternative suppliers or even reusing single-use items. Equipment from these alternative sources first needs to be tested to ensure that they properly protect the clinicians that depend on them. This work demonstrates a test suite for protective face masks that can be realized rapidly and cost effectively, using mainly off-the-shelf as well as 3D printing components. Materials and Methods: The proposed test suite was designed and evaluated in order to assess its safety and proper functioning according to the criteria that are stated in the European standard norm EN149:2001+A1 7. These include a breathing resistance test, a CO2 build-up test, and a penetration test. Measurements were performed for a variety of commercially available protective face masks for validation. Results: The results obtained with the rapidly deployable test suite agree with conventional test methods, demonstrating that this setup can be used to assess the filtering properties of protective masks when conventional equipment is not available. Discussion: The presented test suite can serve as a starting point for the rapid deployment of more testing facilities for respiratory protective equipment. This could greatly increase the testing capacity and ultimately improve the safety of healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
KW - breathing resistance
KW - carbon dioxide concentration
KW - COVID-19
KW - particle penetration
KW - protective face masks
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092353322&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1535676020947284
DO - 10.1177/1535676020947284
M3 - Article
SN - 1535-6760
VL - 25
SP - 161
EP - 168
JO - Applied Biosafety
JF - Applied Biosafety
IS - 3
ER -
