Project CARE is an initiative launched by the Royal Academy of Engineering to address the need for personal protective equipment during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Care mask is designed to be easily produced by local manufacturing hubs, where PPE supply chains may be disrupted or existing products are cost-prohibitive.
The product is a vacuum-formed, reusable, medical mask consisting of an impermeable semi-flexible body, made from recyclable PETG, which can be tightly fitted to the user’s face. A cap clips onto the body to secure a disk of filter material in place through which all inhaled and exhaled air flows, filtering particulate and biological matter. The plastic parts of the mask are intended to be reusable and are easy to sterilize, while the disks of filter material are single use and last for up to a day.
The Care Mask is the result of extensive design and testing to the standards for filtration and breathability set out in BS EN 14683 for medical face masks and BS EN 149 and BS EN 1827 for respirators.
Subject supported the project as lead designers, focusing on 3D design, prototyping, iterative testing and creation of multi-media instructional documents for manufacturers and end-users.
The design is open-source and can be downloaded for free from the University of Leeds website along with detailed instructions for manufacture in conjunction with the Mayku FormBox, an overview of which can be viewed here.
PETg, polyacrylate, multimedia instruction guide. Royal Academy of Engineering (2020).
