DESIGN NAME:
Kavach2020
PRIMARY FUNCTION:
Cardboard Face Shield
INSPIRATION:
As a founder of a startup, it is important for me to ensure the safety of my team members and as an entrepreneur It is most important for us to get back to work, see this crisis through.
We wanted to use our 3D printer to make a few face shields, but I figured it takes about an hour or two to print one and then there are occasional yield loss. At this rate it would take about 10 days to make 100 shields, there has to be a better way, maybe a different kind of shield.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Face shields protects the face from suspended particulate matter, it also protect the masks from getting soiled. These shields help reduce spread of contamination at places of work.
Kavach2020, a cardboard face shield which offers the combined protection of a mask and a shield. It provides ample ventilation through two non-woven fabric areas, fits most people, it provides a broad field of view and allows verbal communication.
The shield can be worn with other accessories such as spectacles, masks, earphones and works with facial biometric devices and infrared thermometers.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION:
Assembly and Usage
The shield is made up of three functional units, and can be assembled as per the pictorial instructions provided along with the package.
Once the shield is assembled, it is worn like a T Shirt, head first with the face cover in retracted position.
The shield is worn by passing the non-woven collar of the shield through the top of the head.
It is adjusted by pulling the two foam buns over to the ears to maximize user’s comfort.
The face cover of the shield can be put in place or retracted by using the ergonomic handle of the face cover.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION:
At the onset of lockdown due to coronavirus, we considered donating few face shields to frontline workers, we realized that making of 3D printed shields does not scale well, each print takes an hour or two, 100 shields would take us between 5 to 10 days. We said to ourselves, there has to be another way. In a span of 30 days our team iterated over a hundred designs and constructed prototypes to develop this workable model.
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY:
We realised that, a face shield that can meet these criteria would be helpful
Better protection
Convenience to the user
Uses sustainable materials
Cost effective
Scale for production
Corrugated paper board is a versatile material, it can be bent to accommodate many shapes, it is cost effective, it is scalable and sustainable. It came up as our natural choice.
Using our past experience in making cardboard gadgets, we have developed Kavach2020, a face shield made out of cardboard. The light weight shield provides has wider field of vision, good ventilation, better thermal comfort than fully enclosed plastic face shields. it causes less fogging and is odourless and offers a decent degree of freedom of movement.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES:
Fully assembled shield
Width : 240 mm
Depth : 280 mm
Height : 350 mm
Top side vent : 2 plys of 45 GSM Non-woven antimicrobial fabric
Collar side vent fabric : 45 GSM Non-woven antimicrobial fabric
Foam Buns : 100 ppi synthetic foam
Weight : 350 grams
TAGS:
Face Shields, Face Masks, Personal Protective Equipment, Cardboard Face Shield
RESEARCH ABSTRACT:
We have designed this shield using industrial design tools and techniques, we have iterated several versions so that the final product meets user expectations. We are closely working with vendors who can provide necessary quality and quantity of the raw materials. We have a future development roadmap for this shield for applications such as augmented reality and mixed reality.
CHALLENGE:
Through this design, we dealt with multiple challenges. Besides the design itself, we had problems with logistics, team, material and machinery. With our teams working on multiple projects from home, prioritising projects was a big deal so was warming up to the new normal of being in a lockdown. Resources such as foam and sometimes even glue were hard to get by, we had no access to prototyping tools for a large part of the project's design phase. We adapted to what was available and leveraged technology to a great extent. We also had to do a prototyping using hand cutting, losing some precision in the process.
ADDED DATE:
2020-05-10 08:04:35
TEAM MEMBERS (2) :
Srinivasulu Reddy and Gururaj M S
IMAGE CREDITS:
Srinivasulu Reddy Guvvala, 2020.
PATENTS/COPYRIGHTS:
Provisional Patent No. TEMP/E-I/26124/2020-CHE, Srinivasulu Reddy, 2020, India.
Copyrights belong to Srinivasulu Reddy, 2020.
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