Comfortable, Ventilated, Self-sterilizing Face Shield for General Use

Project Description: The recent COVID pandemic revealed the importance of sterile, enclosed, and properly fitting face coverings for minimizing the spread of the pathogens and for protecting one’s health, particularly for health care workers routinely exposed to infectious pathogens. Furthermore, recent measles, mpox, and bird flu outbreaks have infectious disease experts concerned about our preparedness for the next pandemic. Frontline healthcare workers often use multiple face masks and shields every day to minimize potential exposure to pathogens. Frequent mask or shield changing risks pathogen exposure from contaminated external surfaces, while insufficient masks and shields also risks contamination, and overall, heavy consumption of this PPE (personal protective equipment) generates significant and potentially hazardous biomedical waste. Facemasks such as the N95 type don’t seal well and they cover most of the wearer’s face making it impossible to read lips or emotions. A reusable, well-fitting, self-sterilizing, enclosed face shield could protect the wearer, allow for mor effective communication, and would generate much less biomedical waste. Ultraviolet (UV)light has proven to be an effective disinfectant for decades and the UVC band (100 - 280nm) particularly has demonstrated the most effective antimicrobial properties. However, UVC light can damage the eyes and skin and even cause skin cancer. Surprisingly, a recently discovered narrow band within the UVC band (200 – 230nm), often referred to as far UVC (fUVC), does not harm skin or eyes yet still retains excellent disinfecting properties. The project goal is to create a process for making custom form-fitted face shields that can be used by itself or with a modular ventilation system and/or a modular UV disinfecting light source.
Scope:
(1) Identify a 3D facial scanning tool to produce accurate models of a person’s face.
(2) Identify and develop a method to shape the plastic shield material to conform precisely to the person’s face.
(3) Identify optimal light weight materials, shape, and volume of air to be enclosed by face shield for comfort, respiratory mechanics and ease of use
(4) Identify optimal HEPA filtration method to achieve disinfection while maintaining respiratory mechanics
(5) Integrate raw HEPA filter material to enable adequate passive ventilation without blocking the face.
(6) Integrate a commercial off-the-shelf COTS active (air pump-based) ventilation system incorporating HEPA air filtration.
(7) Stretch Goal: Integrate commercial fUVC light source to face shield to uniformly disinfect surfaces when activated. This can utilize the previous work completed on a capstone project last year that included: fUVC light source, drive electronics and exposure control.
(8) Build a prototype system and manufacturing method, complete with system diagrams, mechanical drawings, electrical diagrams, and manufacturing work instructions.
(9) Assess and incorporate appropriate bio-medical design elements to maintain optimal respiratory mechanics for the face shield user.
(10) Present results in a PowerPoint presentation.