Program Aircules| Purify the Air Supply

Purify the Air Supply

Has your time spent indoors increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of stay-at-home and shelter-in-place policies worldwide? Your challenge is to use the International Space Station (ISS) as inspiration and develop a system to monitor and/or purify indoor air. It is entirely up to you whether the system you design is able to be used on Earth (for example in homes, businesses, transportation, etc.) and/or in space.

Project Aircules

Summary

Project Aircules consists of a suit with an incorporated modified smart ‘gas’ mask, capable of, more than filter, de-synthesize hazmat particles from the inhaled air through a rechargeable UV photocatalytic filter. Our goal is to protect the user from potential harmful agents such as mold, bacteria and, specially, viruses. Its design also avoids the constant investment of changing the mask’s filters, as the photocatalytic chamber is meant to last around a year¹. Using NASA technology², this piece of PPE is geared towards health professional heroes in close contact with sick people during this moment of adversity. (Consult updates for references)

How We Addressed This Challenge
  • The goal is to develop protective equipment for the removal of harmful particles from the user’s face (where the main accesses to the body are located)
  • Prevent possible infections or diseases.
  • Inspiration was taken from the NASA and ISS photocathalytic reactors.
  • Mid-price solution for both households and hospitals
  • Full-body protection.
  • Innovative compared to conventional gas masks, whose filters (priced around 50 USD each) must be constantly changed. Instead, this prototype uses electrical energy to purify inhaled air using rechargeable batteries.
How We Developed This Project

The approach we gave to the project was to design a device that purifies the air within the user’s closed face-space, to provide medical personnel with greater safety in the treatment of infectious diseases or during the handling of chemical products or biological material whilst reducing the costs compared to other ordinary gas masks. The difference of pressure created by the user’s breathing, replaces the flow of air produced by an external fan in the filter, reducing substantially the energy consumption and production costs, resulting in extended battery life and increased availability.

We took inspiration from the ISS vital support system to make a wide-range filter focused on the medical environment. Our design was based on Airocide’s commercial adaptation of NASA’s photocatalytic reactors; consisting of four pieces: A base which energizes the UV in the photocatalytic chamber, the UV exciter itself, a net-like array of TiO₂ catalyst and a cover to hold together in place and allow the flow of air into the mask. Our main two technological tools while developing this solution were Solidworks and C++. We thank Grabcad users Tibo and Satpal Kumar for their gas mask  and mankin CADs respectively which we use as  templates to illustrate our idea.

While trying to attempt to solve this challenge we consulted all the resources provided by NASA. During this process we had some difficulties deciding which of the different filtration systems of the ISS would be more appropriate for the design and usage of our protective equipment. This problem was addressed by the fact of being a multidisciplinary team plus the effective communication. As the participants were students of medicine, engineering and computer science, each member had a skill that served to carry out the entire project through constant and important collaboration.

Project Demo
Project Code
Data & Resources

Janelle L. Coutts,Paul E. Hintze,Anne Meier, , Malay G. Shah, Robert W. Devor, Jan M. Surma, Phillip R. Maloney, Brint M. Bauer,David W. Mazyck. (2016). Visible-Light-Responsive Photocatalysis: Ag-Doped TiO2 Catalyst Development and Reactor Design Testing. 2020. Retrieved from: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20160008969.pdf

Editor: William Bryan. (2017). Airocide Air Purification Units Use NASA-Funded Technology. 2020, NASA Retrieved from: https://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/images/airocide-air-purification-units-use-nasa-funded-technology

.. (2009). Air Purifiers Eliminate Pathogens, Preserve Food. 2020, NASA. Retrieved from: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090039417.pdf

.. (2013). Home Air Purifiers Eradicate Harmful Pathogens. 2020, NASA Technology Retrieved form: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20140000094.pdf

Airocide. (2013). Airocide Air Purifier Technology. 2020, Youtube Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0sY58GEzwM

Airocide. (2012). Technology. 2020, Youtube Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK2CmrEl_HE

CAD USED FOR ANIMATIONS
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eHakswAjHUsbgJCuAF6rS_yDXqIBbxiP/view?usp=sharing

¹Airocide. (2020).Reaction Chamber Replacement Kit. May 31, 2020, Airocide. Retrieved from: https://airocide.com/products/reaction-chamber-replacement-kit

²NASA(2020). Home Air Purifiers Eradicate Harmful Pathogens. May 31,2020. NASA. Retrieved from: https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2013/cg_4.html

Tags
#NASA #COVID19 #PurifyAirSupply #CAD #Airocide #C++ #México #Tampico #TecDeMonterrey #HereForHeroes #RayoEmprendedor
Global Judging
This project was submitted for consideration during the Space Apps Global Judging process.