Portuguese consortium develops innovative personal protective equipment for healthcare workers in times of pandemic
The equipment is particularly suitable for healthcare professionals who work for long periods of time in environments where there is a high risk of infection, such as in dentistry.
Translation by Diana Taborda
The new personal protective equipment (PPE) is specially designed for healthcare professionals, such as dentists, who work for long periods of time in environments with a high risk of contagion.
The great innovation of this device is its ability to significantly reduce "the risk of a person inhaling contaminated droplets and aerosols exhaled by a nearby infected person. It is a visor with its own ventilation system that creates an air curtain to allow aerodynamic sealing of the inhalation area, while also preventing the visor from fogging up (condensation caused by breathing)," says Leonel Jesus, the project coordinator.
This new equipment is designed to be used "in conjunction with a face mask, ensuring a higher level of protection and better thermal and visual comfort, as the release of the air curtain contributes to the supply of new and fresh air and the defogging of the internal surface of the visor".
At the University of Coimbra, the project involved the Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics (ADAI) and the Faculty of Medicine (FMUC). The ADAI research team includes faculty and researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the UC and the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria. Manuel Gameiro da Silva coordinates the UC team.