Menu
Repurposing commonly found materials.
Currently, there is a global shortage of protective face visors available to essential front-line medical staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff working in Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) and providing Aerosol Generated Procedure (AGP) treatment for the most critical COVID-19 patients on ventilators are required to wear clear face visors along with other protective equipment. Due to safety protocols, every time ICM staff re-enter the unit, they must re-kit themselves with a new face visor and discard the old, which then must be incinerated.
Around the world, the stock of medical face visors cannot be replenished quickly enough to meet the present demands. Many current solutions focus on creating a large, 3D printed, single-use adjustable headband. This method is both time-consuming and expensive.
The solution utilizes an existing, well-proven, fully adjustable and comfortable headband (over prolonged periods of wear) which is in plentiful supply across the globe – a baseball cap.
Rather than completely redesigning conventional face shields, the baseball cap face visor was founded on the idea of repurposing commonly found materials. By fastening a die-cut, clear face visor to a baseball cap using a few injection moulded fasteners, a medical-grade face visor can easily be manufactured for under £4.00 ($5.00). All components, other than the die-cut visor, can also be sterilised for reuse. The injection moulded fastener would be push-fitted onto the baseball cap, with one version of the visor attaching to a piece of knotted elastic which slots into the existing holes in the visor and wraps around the rear of the head, similar to a pair of swimming goggles. The die-cut face visor would then lock onto the fastener, ensuring full, protective coverage across the face, and the peak of the cap would then create space underneath for a FFP3 face mask.
The baseball cap face visor is ultimately intended to help fill in gaps in the supply chain of face visors around the world rather than to completely replace it. But, because of the low-cost and its ease of manufacturing, a huge number could be made in a very short time, even just by 3D printing hobbyists, henceforth helping us reach the goal of slowing down the further spread of COVID-19.
These designs are presented As-Is. The goal is to present designs that can foster further discussion and be utilized in countries that permit this product. These are not finalized designs and do not represent certification from any country. You accept responsibility and release Helpful Engineering from liability for the manufacture or use of this product. This design was created in response to the announcement on March 10, 2020, from the HHS. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who issued a declaration pursuant to the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act.
Link to Prep act. :https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/legal/prepact/Pages/default.aspx
ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, EXPRESS, IMPLIED AND STATUTORY, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. THIS DEVICE (INCLUDING ANY ACCESSORIES AND COMPONENTS) IS PRESENTED ‘AS IS.’
