Nasa challenges us to work on a system to purify indoor air (at homes) and give us access to the same method if possible in businesses, transportation, and space.
We (Airex Team) have reached an idea to provide purified air to those in the most high-risk environments(indoor-outdoor), we have developed a novel, inexpensive, accessible PAPR device that is lightweight and 3D printable. As many people don't know, there are indoor air quality standards and outdoor air quality standards to promote human health in our homes and other structures. Also, this personal protective equipment (PPE) faces critical shortages in a small county hospital. Furthermore, surgical masks and homemade solutions are not equipped or authorized to avoid the inhalation of little airborne toxins, resulting in COVID-19 disease and, in severe cases, death. We developed strategies for air filtration to eliminate toxic particles from the air. Powered, air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) are currently the gold standard in medicine when treating patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and other highly infectious respiratory diseases due to their positive pressure system that filters air extremely effectively reaches their airway.
What inspired your team to choose this challenge? They were increasing in the time spent indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, found many people who died at their homes without knowing about them due to air pollution(indoor) affected byCOVID-19 add to that the number of people affected by COVID-19 increased, which made people stay at home instead of hospitals due to high numbers illness at hospitals. We inspired to choose this challenge due to these situations. By the first meeting and accept this challenge, we considered using ISS sources as inspiration and develop a system to purify indoor-outdoor air.
What was your appeal to developing this project?
1-We will be communicating this idea to hospitals, homes, and schools.
2-We will connect with businesses with 3D printers to manufacture our project and helping to market it.
3-We will invites more researchers to work with us in developing instructions for assembly and use of our technology, optimizing our 3D model to reduce time.
4-Some testing protocols required to do like: ( helium testing, viral particles, photometer).
How did you use space agency data in your project? Nasa and Nasa's partner provided us with professional sources that help us to work on this project, we delivered it in the list of references. Nasa Air Quality provided us Analysis of the COVID-19 Pandemic.ESA gives us information about the biological air filter for the international space station that inspires us to make a new air filter in a new vision that can also use in space. Nasa additionally provides us information about air purification that is doing on ISS.
What tools, coding languages, hardware, software did you use to develop your project? Airex is a device that printed using ABS, PLA, and other filaments. contains a motor, batteries (rechargeable 4 AA batteries and 4 9V batteries), a 3D-printed compressor fan, and aluminum foil wires and some materials that allows us at the end to achieve our design requirements and there are: inexpensive, accessible PAPR device that is lightweight and 3D printable.
What problems and achievements did your team have?
Other PAPRs require highly specific motors, batteries, and air filters, which are currently in short supply. Our problem is how you can come with a new vision in PAPRs devices, including highly efficient and inexpensive methods.
We are proud of what we did at the final through this young journey.