PPE kits or personal protective equipment kits are vital when it comes to protecting healthcare workers from contracting COVID19 infection in a surrounding that has abundant viral load. But wearing these kits can be a torturous experience in itself due to excessive heat and no possibility of air to enter the kit.
With an aim to provide respite from the hardship of wearing a PPE kit, Nihal Singh, an engineering student from Mumbai, has invented a ventilation system for these kits. It can be easily installed on a regular PPE kit and is named as ‘Cov-Tech’.
This device takes air from the surroundings, filters it, and supplies it to the PPE kit. This lowers the temperature within the PPE kit, providing relief to the health professionals.
Nihal, a second-year student at Mumbai’s KJ Somaiya College of Engineering, claims that this device will allow health workers to feel as if they are sitting in front of a fan. His classmates Ritvik Marathe and Sayali Bhavsar assisted him in developing this ventilation system.
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Cov-Tech runs on lithium-ion batteries, which have a battery life of six to eight hours. The system’s design ensures complete air sealing with the PPE kit and provides the user with fresh air in less than 100 seconds.
Singh’s mother is a doctor who treats Corona-infected patients at her clinic. She frequently discussed her difficulty in donning the PPE kit. This inspired Nihal to try to find a solution to the problem and invent this device.
Nihal was inspired to create the prototype in response to a design challenge. Ulhas Kharul of the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune guided Nihal in developing the first model in 20 days. After six months of laborious work, Nihal designed a neckwear device that doctors could use. Doctors and health workers rejected it as they found it uncomfortable to wear around the neck because of the sound and vibration emitted by the device. This motivated Nihal to begin working on another design. By the time they created the final product used as a belt, they had already made 20 prototype models.
High-quality material was used, and adequate safety precautions were taken because this device is worn on the body. This ventilation system is in use at Sai Sneh Hospital and Lotus Multispeciality Hospital in Pune.
A single unit of Cov-Tech costs Rs 5,499 per unit, which is significantly less than similar devices. However, efforts are on to reduce its price further.
There are plans to ramp up production of this ventilation system by the end of next month. The Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring Technology Entrepreneurship (PRAYAS) fund, supervised by India’s Department of Science and Technology, has provided a grant of one million rupees. Additionally, the New Venture Investment Program run jointly by KJ Somaiya Institute of Management and Reasearch Innovation Incubation Design Laboratory (RIIDL) provided a sum of five lakh rupees for Nihal’s project.
This article was originally published here.
Translated by Rizwan Shaik
