The COVID-19 pandemic in the country has forced people to use face masks and the masks production and sales have gone up rapidly. However, many have complained of breathing difficulties. Indian students have come up with a perfect solution.
The students of the Lovely Professional University have developed a new kind of mask that would not cause any breathing difficulties and also is comfortable than other masks. The novel mask is named ‘Oxigeno’. A novel technology has been incorporated in developing this mask which will help people to wear it comfortably and also remaining safe from the threat of the coronavirus.
The Oxigeno mask uses an Algae-based respirator. The algae destroy 99.3 percent of the harmful gases and also other particulate matter and boost the oxygen into the mask. Algae conduct photosynthesis just like plants and thereby removes carbon dioxide along with other pollutants. The mask is designed to filter particles of size 0.44 micrometers to 10 micrometers using its four layers of filters that has HEPA filter that is responsible for filtering the dust particles. To filter out VOC and odors, it has an activated carbon filter, and to filter harmful air pollutants and PTTE, NOx and Sox filter are used.
Reusable Mask
However, the biggest advantage of the respirator is that it is reusable. If the algae cartridge and the filters is changed at regular intervals, the mask can be reused.
One cartridge will last for 40 hours of continuous use or 7 days of regular use. If used continuously, the filter is used to be replaced every 48 hours or a month otherwise. The mask housing is made of an antimicrobial and biodegradable plastic which prevents the bacteria growth and other contaminants. In order to make it easy for people to wear the mask for a longer period of time, a silicon membrane is incorporated around the nose and mouth to make it gentler to the skin.
The mask is designed by the students of the Lovely Professional University Deepak Deb, Anant Kumar Rajpur, and Manish Kotni who developed it under the guidance of Professor Dr. Jastin Samuel. The mask is set to be priced at Rs. 3,600 and a reduction of 30 to 40 percent if it’s manufactured on a large scale.
Source: India Times
