Low-cost air circulated PPE for Covid warriors

Gupta said it would now be possible for doctors and frontline Covid warriors to work longer without the discomforts and hassles associated with conventional PPE kits that often result in profuse perspiration and a feeling of suffocation…reports Asian Lite News.

Addressing a major challenge to Covid warriors, a medical equipment manufacturing factory of Mysuru, has developed a unique and affordable PPE suit that allows free flow of filtered air.

GloAir, produced by Glowtronics of Mysuru, has been designed to make life comfortable and efficient for the doctors and frontline Covid fighters.

Jagan Gupta, executive director, on a visit to Agra, Mathura, said, that his organisation was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to go ‘swadeshi’ and to support governmental efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, we have produced this unique safety kit. “GLOAIR” keeps the whole body sweat-free and comfortable enabling the wearer to put in long hours of work.

Gupta said it would now be possible for doctors and frontline Covid warriors to work longer without the discomforts and hassles associated with conventional PPE kits that often result in profuse perspiration and a feeling of suffocation. “Gloair” will add to the arsenal required to supplement efforts to contain the spread of the Coronavirus and equip the doctors to address the health hazards.

“Our continuous interactions with doctors at the hospitals where Covid patients were being treated, highlighted the hassles of wearing PPEs for long hours resulting in not only fatigue and loss of energy due to lack of fresh air to various parts of the body. To overcome this inadequacy, we worked on developing a kit that allowed for circulation of fresh, filtered air for the whole body,” Gupta explained.

“Our system filters out most airborne contaminants, as we are using filters that have a viral removal efficacy of 99.99 per cent, and can be used for up to 100 hours. The Gloair PPE kit is equipped with air blower, air filters, motor, power bank, charger, waist belt and a user manual.

It is a comfortable with light weight design that does not require any external help to put on or take off. We have deliberately kept the unit price affordable to make Gloair’s large-scale use possible,” the company director added.

Asked to explain the operation of the system, Gupta said, “the Gloair PPE kit has a tube connected to the air outlet of the air supply module. To turn on the air supply, the USB connector from the air supply module is plugged into the power bank which starts the motor of the blower to pump in filtered air into the full body PPE kit through the connecting air tube. The air flow can be increased or reduced by using a Flow Control Knob. A fully charged Power Bank will supply air up to eight hours in normal conditions.”

Another problem faced by users is that the eyeglasses or visor gets fogged out due to perspiration thereby obstructing view. The Gloair PPE has a larger visor that provides clear vision without fogging because of the continuous supply of filtered air. For details visit our website www.Glowtronics.com, he added.

Gupta said that the company is planning to market Gloair in a big way to support Government efforts to fight the pandemic, as also to provide a user friendly PPE to secure the health of the Corona warriors who have been relentlessly waging this war for more than a year.