We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us

Download Mobile App





Disposable Helmet Retains Cough Droplets and Decreases Risk of COVID-19 Transmission from Patients

By HospiMedica International staff writers
Posted on 14 Jan 2021
Print article
Image: Visualization of the helmet design. The top port is connected to an air filtration pump, which is not shown in the image (Photo courtesy of Dongjie Jia)
Image: Visualization of the helmet design. The top port is connected to an air filtration pump, which is not shown in the image (Photo courtesy of Dongjie Jia)
A newly-designed open-faced helmet for patient use that is connected to a medical-grade air filtration pump from the top creates a reverse flow of air to prevent cough droplets from exiting the helmet, thus reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection for medical specialists who come in contact with symptomatic or asymptomatic patients.

In a computer simulation using computational fluid dynamics, researchers from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY, USA) who designed the device showed that the helmet design can contain 99.6% of droplets emitted from coughing within 0.1 seconds. Currently available personal protective equipment does not provide open face access while maintaining high effectiveness in containing contaminants. The proposed helmet has a shell that is one millimeter thick and fully encloses the head with access and vacuum ports. A nozzle is attached to the access port to extend the distance droplets must travel against the flow and minimize their chance of escape through the opening, allowing for a smoother flow transition that reduces patient discomfort generated by flow turbulence.

The proposed helmet design could also greatly reduce cost by replacing current practices. For example, building a negative pressure room with air filtration can cost tens of thousands of dollars. The cost of each helmet could be as cheap as couple of dollars if made disposable, said the researchers. Medical-grade HEPA filter negative air machines designed to power the helmets are readily available and cost around USD 1,000.

“To put this into context, if we use the same air pump to create a negative pressure isolation room, it will take about 45 minutes to remove 99.0% of the airborne contaminants from the room,” said study author Mahdi Esmaily.

“Our next step is to refine the helmet design to have higher efficiency and broader application,” added author Dongjie Jia. “After that, we plan to build prototypes of the helmet and perform experiments to verify our simulation predictions.”

Related Links:
Cornell University

Gold Member
12-Channel ECG
CM1200B
Gold Member
Disposable Protective Suit For Medical Use
Disposable Protective Suit For Medical Use
Silver Member
Compact 14-Day Uninterrupted Holter ECG
NR-314P
New
Medical Oxygen Analyzer
MAXO2+AE

Print article

Channels

Critical Care

view channel
Image: The permeable wearable electronics developed for long-term biosignal monitoring (Photo courtesy of CityUHK)

Super Permeable Wearable Electronics Enable Long-Term Biosignal Monitoring

Wearable electronics have become integral to enhancing health and fitness by offering continuous tracking of physiological signals over extended periods. This monitoring is crucial for understanding an... Read more

Surgical Techniques

view channel
Image: NTT and Olympus have begun the world\'s first joint demonstration experiment of a cloud endoscopy system (Photo courtesy of Olympus)

Cloud Endoscopy System Enables Real-Time Image Processing on the Cloud

Endoscopes, which are flexible tubes inserted into the body's natural openings for internal examination and biopsy collection, are becoming increasingly vital in medical diagnostics. Their minimal invasiveness... Read more

Patient Care

view channel
Image: The newly-launched solution can transform operating room scheduling and boost utilization rates (Photo courtesy of Fujitsu)

Surgical Capacity Optimization Solution Helps Hospitals Boost OR Utilization

An innovative solution has the capability to transform surgical capacity utilization by targeting the root cause of surgical block time inefficiencies. Fujitsu Limited’s (Tokyo, Japan) Surgical Capacity... Read more

Health IT

view channel
Image: First ever institution-specific model provides significant performance advantage over current population-derived models (Photo courtesy of Mount Sinai)

Machine Learning Model Improves Mortality Risk Prediction for Cardiac Surgery Patients

Machine learning algorithms have been deployed to create predictive models in various medical fields, with some demonstrating improved outcomes compared to their standard-of-care counterparts.... Read more

Point of Care

view channel
Image: The PATHFAST hs-cTnI-II high-sensitivity troponin assay has been developed for the PATHFAST Biomarker Analyzer (Photo courtesy of Polymedco)

POC Myocardial Infarction Test Delivers Results in 17 Minutes

Chest pain is the second leading cause of emergency department (ED) visits by adults in the United States, generating over 7 million visits annually. In the event of a suspected heart attack, physicians... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.