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Performance of a No-Sew Origami Mask for Improvised Respiratory Protection
JAMES SMITH, Jonathan Realmuto, Terence Sanger, Michael Kleinman, Michael J. Lawler, University of California, Irvine
Abstract Number: 491
Working Group: The Role of Aerosol Science in the Understanding of the Spread and Control of COVID-19 and Other Infectious Diseases
Abstract
The commercial supply of surgical masks and N95 respirators has become severely strained during the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, requiring the use of improvised respiratory protection for front-line workers and at-risk public. However, many improvised face masks do not provide adequate filtration properties, are constructed using specialized fabrication techniques, or fail to provide a sufficient face seal. We have designed a mask fabrication technique that makes use of a folding procedure (origami) to transform a filtration base material into a mask. The design can provide a range of filtration efficiencies based on material choice, can be easily scaled to accommodate different facial sizes, and can be fabricated by non-experts. Using a mannequin-based fit test simulator, we experimentally explore the trade-off between filtration efficiency and flow resistance for different base materials and explore other key features such as carbon dioxide retention and inhalation from expired breath. We observed that masks constructed with higher filtration efficiency materials often exhibited a large range of expected efficiencies, implying that high efficiency media typically corresponds to high pressure drops, and ultimately higher leakage. Our results provide an improved understanding of the impacts of pressure drop on leakage and, in addition, provide a more reliable indicator of the expected performance of a mask design. This research can provide evidence-based guidance on the selection of materials and the design of improvised masks to enable non-experts the ability to rapidly produce respiratory protection on-demand.