Armask

CAD design front, angled
Business model and approach
Need statement long version

Inspiration

Healthcare workers

Our project's inspiration was the experiences of frontline health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We noticed the dire need for a better and more comfortable mask from family members and other healthcare professionals who work long hours caring for patients in highly contagious environments.

India spike

Furthermore, the current spike in India's COVID-19 cases sparked our team's urge to innovate a product that not only has long-term benefits like added safety and comfort but can also immediately be applied to India by offering a segway to administer high-flow oxygen therapy to patients and doctors alike in need.

What it does

Armask is mask that combines safety with comfort by utilizing, sealed off with a drawstring enclosure. We looked at design components carefully, guided by published research on nuances involving considerations like nasal infection prevalence, magnetic charging, ambient air filtration, etc.

In the clinical setting, our mask prioritizes comfort and seal safety and protects the user from airborne disease transmission.

Over time, our mask can significantly increase prevention and lower transmission rates of particles containing viruses like SARS-CoV-2, asbestos, wildfire smoke, etc. in populations of interest like India by filtering all particles of interest through a cheap, effective, and proprietary multi-mesh-layered and non-woven-material mask (per CDC, must have multi-layers, non-woven material).

How we built it

Our prototype design consists of 11 components.

Oxygen valve and filter with optional nasal cannula compatibility for high-flow oxygen care for COVID-19 patients
Filter consisting of
a cyclone valve,
micro-filter (filters particles unlike the N95 masks w/ valves that are used today), and
filter valve housing,
(all made from a cheap PVC material to help profit margins.)
Positively charged mesh to repel all airborne particles
Mask seal using lightweight drawstrings along upper cheekbones (provides for user-custom flexibility while maintaining quality assurance since drawstrings will only be an extra means of tightening the mask for user)
Negative pressure functionality (to be added) within mask to address current breathability concerns for clinical professionals; a two-way filtration will be added.
Seal lining for comfort and to close off any extra mask gaps Accessory
Provide high-flow oxygen via an extension piece that can attach to any oxygen concentrator (of choice), that has nasal cannula compatibility within the mask

We designed our prototype using TinkerCAD.

Challenges we ran into

Time constraints forced us to leave some minor details on the table

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're quite happy with how quickly we were able to put together this project, given time constraints and no great knowledge of this Hackathon beforehand.

What we learned

We learned that teamwork should take precedence over technical perfection.

What's next for Armask

Technical

For one, we are looking for a way to utilize a negative-pressure respirator within the inside of the mask to improve breathability, without compromising safety of inhalation.