ES1253989U - FILTERING FACIAL MASK (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Filtering facial mask comprising: a filtering facial band (10) with a mean air permeability equal to or less than 60Pa/cm2 and with a filtration efficiency of bacteria greater than 3 microns equal to or greater than 90%, said facial band filter (10) including one or more superimposed textile layers (11) made of hydrophobic filaments, at least one of said one or more textile layers being of a fabric with a weft made of weft filaments and with a warp made of warp filaments ; and fixing elements (20) at opposite ends of the fabric band; characterized because hydrophobic filaments are transparent polymeric filaments; and the weft filaments and/or the warp filaments are flat filaments. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)

Description

DESCRIPTION

FILTERING FACIAL MASK

Technical field

The present invention concerns a filtering face mask, for individual protection, with a filtration capacity of bacteria greater than 3 microns equal to or greater than 90% and with an air permeability less than or equal to 60 Pa / cm2, designed to cover mouth and nose of a user allowing to breathe through it reducing the risk of contracting or spreading diseases during inhalation and exhalation.

The proposed filtering face mask has the particularity of being transparent, thus allowing the wearer's features to be seen through and in particular being able to read lips.

The proposed filtering face mask can be valid as a hygienic, surgical mask or also include additional air filters attached to improve its filtering properties, making it suitable according to the FFP1, FFP2 and FFP3 standards with or without an exhalation valve.

State of the art

Filtering face masks with a filtration capacity of bacteria greater than 3 microns equal to or greater than 90% and with an air permeability less than or equal to 60 Pa / cm2 are known, as they are requirements typically demanded of this type of face masks. filtering.

Typically, said filtering face masks are made of opaque filaments, normally arranged in the form of a non-woven fabric, resulting in a mask that is opaque to light that prevents the vision of the facial features of the wearer of the same.

The concealment of facial features has an important negative impact on communication, since non-verbal communication is largely lost, as well as affective communication, which in some environments is an essential part of communication, such as communication with children. , with people with emotional or mental problems, with people with intellectual disabilities, or even in environments with people who suffer from high emotional stress, such as hospitals and funeral homes.

Furthermore, the need for accurate, fast and effective communication is especially relevant in highly dangerous environments and also in hospital environments (for example, between medical personnel working with masks in an operating room).

In addition, filtering face masks dampen the voice of the user by a certain percentage, making it difficult to understand especially in noisy environments, which could be compensated by the receiver of the message observing the movement of the lips of the sender of the message if he could see them, but that, when be hidden by the opaque filtering face mask, this possibility is ruled out, making communication difficult.

In extreme cases, such as communicating with a hearing-impaired or deaf person, concealing the lips can completely impede communication.

Therefore, in any work or non-work environment in which correct communication between people through oral messages is necessary, the use of opaque face masks impairs correct communication by making it difficult to muffle the voice of the issuer, preventing reading their lips and hiding his facial expression.

Opaque filtering face masks also make it impossible to recognize the mood of the wearer of the filtering face mask, for example can lead to incorrect interpretations of ironic expressions.

The use of filtering face masks is also known which, at least in an area located in front of the mouth, place a transparent window made of a transparent plastic sheet, which is completely impermeable to air, surrounded by an opaque breathable filtering fabric.

In this type of product, only a part of the filtering face mask is transparent, with limited visibility of the features. In addition, the transparent, air-impermeable sheet tends to accumulate drops of saliva on its intrados, becoming dirty and losing transparency, and said sheets tend to fog up, since the interior environment of the mask is warmer and more humid than the exterior environment.

Another drawback of this type of solution is that the transparent sheet can only be bent in one direction, adopting only cylindrical shapes, but not spherical shapes, that is to say that it can only adopt Gaussian curvatures equal to zero. This makes it difficult to adapt the filtering face mask to the shape of the user's face, reducing its comfort and the perimeter seal against the face.

Brief description of the invention

The present invention concerns a filtering facial mask that comprises, in a manner known per se in the available state of the art:

• a filtering face band with a mean air permeability equal to or less than 60Pa / cm2, and with a filtration efficiency of bacteria greater than 3 microns equal to or greater than 90%, said filtering face band including one or more superimposed textile layers made of hydrophobic filaments, at least one of said one or more textile layers being of a fabric with a weft made of weft filaments and with a warp made of warp filaments; Y

• fixing elements at opposite ends of the fabric band.

Air permeability is measured by passing a controlled flow of air through the filtering faceband and measuring the difference in air pressure before and after the filtering faceband. Therefore, the lower the air permeability value, the easier it is to breathe through said filtering face band, which is why this value is also known as breathability.

The filtration efficiency of bacteria larger than 3 microns is measured by normatively regulated tests known as BFE (Bacterial Filtration Efficiency) tests, typically by passing Staphylococcus aureus through the filtering faceband and measuring its concentration. before and after the filtering facial band. Therefore, a high percentage of filtration efficiency means that a low percentage of bacteria can pass through the filter face strip.

The proposed filtering face strip can be composed of a single textile layer, or of several textile layers superimposed and bonded together, all textile layers being made of hydrophobic filaments.

Furthermore, at least one of the constituent layers of the filtering face band is formed by a woven textile fabric, that is to say, provided with a weft and warp. The warp will be made up of multiple warp filaments and the weft will be made up of multiple passes of weft filaments interlaced with warp filaments.

The hydrophobicity of the filaments prevents suspended droplets potentially loaded with bacteria and other harmful elements, such as saliva droplets, from accumulating on said filaments or passing through the filtering face band by capillary action, making it easier for said droplets to slip and be easily eliminated from the filtering face band.

In a way not known in the state of the art, the following is proposed:

• hydrophobic filaments are transparent polymeric filaments; and that

• the weft filaments and / or the warp filaments are flat filaments.

Therefore, it is proposed to use transparent polymeric filaments for the manufacture of the filtering face band, thus obtaining a textile filtering face band transparent to visible light that allows the facial features of the wearer of the filtering face mask to be seen, but maintaining the properties of the fabrics, facilitating the adaptability of the filtering facial band to the user's face.

In addition, the polymeric filaments can be washed repeatedly (exceeding at least 5), without altering any of the efficacy characteristics, which makes the filtering face mask a reusable mask, with the environmental benefit that this implies.

In order to achieve the required permeability and filtration efficiency properties with the use of said polymeric filaments, the use of flat filaments as weft filaments and / or as warp filaments is proposed.

The thickness of a filament determines its transparency, and its width determines the number of passes necessary to cover a certain surface.

With filaments of little width, many passes are necessary for each centimeter of fabric, which represents many interstices and therefore a lot of porosity, which can negatively affect the filtration efficiency.

Flat filaments are wide and therefore allow to cover a large surface with few passes, obtaining a fabric with little porosity and at the same time they have little thickness, achieving high transparency.

Therefore, the use of flat filaments at least for the weft makes it possible to obtain a highly transparent textile layer with high bacterial filtration effectiveness.

The warp or weft filaments being flat, the others may also be flat filaments, although in a preferred embodiment they will be round filaments, combining flat filaments and round filaments. In such a case, preferably the warp filaments will be round and the weft filaments will be flat.

Round warp filaments are considered to perform better by ensuring closer contact with the weft filaments at all points, compared to a fabric where both weft and warp are flat filament, achieving therefore with a combination of flat and round filaments a better bacterial filtration efficiency.

Flat filaments can be between 250 and 350 Nm, preferably between 270 and 320 Nm.

Said flat filaments may have a thickness of less than 0.0035 cm and in a preferred embodiment a thickness of 0.0031001 cm, allowing the desired transparency to be achieved.

For their part, the warp filaments may be round filaments. In this case, they may be filaments of between 400 and 500 Nm, and preferably between 420 and 490 Nm.

It has been found that, using flat filaments, the bacterial filtration efficiency and air permeability are optimal using a density of flat filaments that is between 35 threads / cm and 55 threads / cm, that is, each linear centimeter of the fabric contains between 35 and 55 flat filament yarns.

According to another embodiment, the weft and warp of said textile layer, which is at least one, will be woven in plain taffeta.

Plain taffeta is a simple fabric in which each pass of the weft crosses the warp filaments going over the first and under the second, and so on; The next weft pass crosses the warp threads, alternately, starting at the bottom and then at the top.

This is one of the tissues that produces smaller pores, and therefore a better bacterial filtration efficiency.

Preferably the warp is composed of round filaments, producing a fabric with smaller pores and therefore with better bacterial filtration efficiency. In this case, the warp is proposed to have a density between 50 threads / cm and 70 threads / cm, that is to say that each linear centimeter of fabric contains between 50 and 70 warp threads, which has been considered to be the optimum density to obtain the desired bacterial filtration efficiency and air permeability values.

According to a preferred embodiment, the transparent polymeric filaments are made of polyamide, such as nylon. Polyamide has several properties that make it optimal for this use.

In the first place, it presents a good elastic recovery and a high resistance to fatigue, in addition to a high resistance to traction, friction and high elasticity, in compared to other types of polymeric filaments, which prevents breakage that could reduce its bacterial filtration efficiency.

In addition, it is a material with low flammability and very resistant to chemical agents. Another additional advantage of polyamide is that it has a high affinity to the colorant, which allows applying color treatments to the mask, for aesthetic or other purposes.

The transparent polymeric fibers are also proposed to have a polytetrafluoroethylene coating, commonly known as Teflon. This further increases the expulsion of the suspended droplets from the tissue surface. The use of biocidal coatings is also contemplated.

According to another embodiment, the filtering faceband includes two superimposed textile layers with identical properties. This allows the use of very thin, and therefore very transparent, overlapping textile layers, achieving the desired bacterial filtration efficiency and air permeability by adding together the effects of each of the two overlapping layers.

Preferably, the perimeter of the filtering facial band will be heat-welded, sewn or sewn with transparent thread, for example, forming a hem, which will reinforce it, making it difficult to break, and allowing the fixing elements to be fixed, which preferably will also be heat-welded. , sewn or sewn with transparent thread.

Said heat-welded or sewn perimeter may also fix a malleable strip in the central area of an upper edge of the filtering facial band, designed to adapt to the shape of the user's nose.

The fixing elements may also be made of the same transparent material as the textile layer (s) that make up the filtering face band, thus being transparent fixing elements.

It is also contemplated that the filtering faceband may be fixed on a transparent rigid or semi-rigid openwork structure. Said openwork structure will keep the filtering faceband separated from the face, increasing the effective filtration surface to the entire surface of the filtering faceband when separating it from the mouth and nose. By making said openwork structure of a transparent material, such as plastic, it allows to maintain the transparency of the whole.

Preferably said openwork structure will have openings covering less than 90% of its surface.

The filtering face band may include at least one valve connected to an air filter and fixed to the openwork structure, said at least one valve being located in a non-central area of the filtering face band, that is, in an area not located in front of the mouth and nose. Said air filter will therefore be connected to the interior space defined between the filtering face mask and the user's face through the valve.

At least one textile layer of the filtering faceband may include a sealing coating, or a polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) coating that reduces or eliminates its air permeability, that is, a coating applied to the textile layer after its formation.

The air permeability of the air filters will compensate for the reduction or elimination of the air permeability of at least one textile layer, allowing the average air permeability of the filtering face band to remain equal to or below 60Pa / cm2.

This embodiment allows the use of air filters with different degrees of filtration, increasing the performance of the filtering face mask to make it suitable for applications with higher filtration demands, such as surgical environments or intensive care units, allowing the filtering face mask to meet the requirements of requirements to be considered as a surgical filtering face mask, FFP1, FFP2 and FFP3 with or without exhalation valve.

It is also proposed that the filtering face band includes an elongated upper band superimposed on the intrados of the filtering face band and provided with an upper edge joined to an upper edge of the filtering face band and with a free lower edge, the filtering face band being made of transparent polymeric filaments.

In this way, the upper band will hang as a curtain from the upper edge of the filtering face band through the intrados of the filtering face band, that is, between the filtering face band and the user's face, so that when the user exhales the air will be trapped between the filtering face band and the upper band, pushing said upper band against the user's face and therefore improving the sealing of the upper edge of the filtering face band, preventing the exit of air through said upper edge. This is especially beneficial for wearers wearing glasses, since they prevent fogging.

The upper band will preferably cover less than one third of the filtering face band, thus remaining above the user's mouth.

The masks described are capable of being sterilized in an ozone cabin, without altering their original characteristics.

Other characteristics of the invention will appear in the following detailed description of an embodiment.

Brief description of the figures

The foregoing and other advantages and characteristics will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of an embodiment with reference to the attached drawings, which should be taken by way of illustration and not limitation, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a user wearing the proposed filtering face mask;

Fig. 2 shows an intrados view of the proposed face mask, including an upper band attached to the upper edge of the filtering face band;

Fig. 3 shows a rigid or semi-rigid openwork structure intended to be fixed to the intrados of the filtering facial band to keep it separated from the user's face, but sealing the perimeter, the openwork structure being equipped with valves on its sides for fixing the additional air filters:

Fig. 4 shows a vertically sectioned perspective view of the filtering face mask shown in Fig.2.

Detailed description of a realization example

The attached figures show exemplary non-limiting illustrative embodiments of the present invention.

The proposed filtering face mask comprises a filtering face band 10 formed by a textile layer 11 or several superimposed textile layers 11, each textile layer 11 being a fabric made of water-repellent polymeric filaments and transparent to visible light.

Fig. 4 shows in detail a filtering face band 10 composed of two superimposed textile layers 11. In this example it is further shown how the filtering faceband 10 can include multiple parallel pleats in the form of a pleat.

Said polymeric filaments will preferably be polyamide filaments. A fabric composed of transparent filaments results in a transparent fabric that reveals what is behind, in this case the part of the user's face covered by said filtering facial band 10.

At opposite ends of the filtering face band 10, fixing elements 20 are arranged, which in this case are elastic bands designed to be around the user's ears, pressing the filtering face band 10 against the user's face, as shown. shown in Fig. 1

The perimeter of the filtering face strip 10 will be a heat-welded perimeter 12, for example, a hem of the textile layer 11, a hem of the overlapping textile layers 11, or a heat-welded between said overlapping textile layers.

According to a preferred embodiment, at least one of said textile layers 11 is a woven layer provided with warp filaments and weft filaments preferably woven using the plain taffeta technique.

The warp filaments are, in this preferred example, 455 Nm polyamide round monofilament, arranged at a density of between 60 threads / cm and 70 threads / cm in the finished material, preferably 64 threads / cm.

The weft filaments are, in this preferred example, 291 Nm polyamide flat laminar monofilament, arranged at a density of between 40 threads / cm and 50 threads / cm in the finished material. Preferably the yarn used is N6020 1/127 ”291Nm NIGEL NYLON color 0129.

This type of fabric undergoes a retraction of approximately 10% when it is removed from the loom, so the density of threads per centimeter on the loom is approximately 10% lower.

The polyamide used will preferably be polycapromide, known as polyamide 6.

When there are several superimposed textile layers 11, all of them can be identical and therefore of fabric made of warp filaments and weft filaments, or alternatively it is contemplated that some of the textile layers 11 can be composed of other types of fabrics, such as a non-woven fabric. Said nonwoven fabric will also be composed of hydrophobic and transparent polymeric filaments, preferably of polyamide, preferably being round filaments with similar or equal characteristics to those of warp filaments when these are round.

According to an optional embodiment, the weft filaments and / or the warp filaments have a polytetrafluoroethylene coating, commonly known as Teflon.

In Fig. 2 a similar embodiment is shown in which an upper band 40 superimposed on the intrados of the filtering face band 10 has been incorporated. Said upper band 40 covers only an upper portion of the filtering face band 10, and is also made of transparent water-repellent filaments, preferably with the same fabric as the filtering face band 10.

The upper band 40 has an upper edge 41 attached to the upper heat-welded perimeter 12 of the filtering face band 10, and a free lower edge 42, that is, not fixed to the filtering face band 10, with the upper band 40 hanging as a curtain. This embodiment is seen in detail in Fig. 4.

The upper band 40 is comprised between the filtering face band 10 and the user's face. When the user exhales the air contained between the filtering face band 10 and the user's face, it tends to come out through the periphery of the filtering face band 10, but in this case the air will be trapped between the upper band 40 and the filtering face band 10 , pushing the upper band 40 against the user's face and increasing the sealing of the upper heat-welded perimeter 12, preventing the exit of air through that area. This helps prevent fogging of the glasses for those who wear them.

Fig. 3 also shows a rigid or semi-rigid openwork structure 30 made of transparent plastic. The filtering face band 10 will be fixed to said openwork structure 30 at least on its perimeter, for example, by said heat-welded perimeter, keeping the central area of the filtering face band 10 separated from the user's face.

Said openwork structure 30 may include, in lateral areas, valves 31 that will pass through the filtering face band 10 for fixing additional air filters to said filtering face mask, allowing its use in environments with higher protection requirements.

It will be understood that the different parts that make up the invention described in one embodiment can be freely combined with the parts described in other different embodiments, even if said combination has not been explicitly described, provided that there is no harm in the combination.

Claims (18)

1. Filtering facial mask comprising: a filtering face band (10) with an average air permeability equal to or less than 60Pa / cm2, and with a filtration efficiency of bacteria greater than 3 microns equal to or greater than 90%, said filtering face band (10) including one or several superimposed textile layers (11) made of hydrophobic filaments, at least one of said one or more textile layers being of a fabric with a weft made of weft filaments and with a warp made of warp filaments; Y fixing elements (20) at opposite ends of the fabric band; characterized because hydrophobic filaments are transparent polymeric filaments; Y the weft filaments and / or the warp filaments are flat filaments. 2. The filtering facial mask according to claim 1, wherein the flat filaments are between 250 and 350 Nm. 3. The filtering face mask according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the flat filaments have a thickness of less than 0.0035cm. 4. The filtering facial mask according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the flat filaments have a density between 35 threads / cm and 55 threads / cm. 5. The filtering face mask according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the warp filaments are round filaments. 6. The filtering face mask according to claim 5, wherein said round warp filaments are between 400 and 500 Nm. 7. The filtering face mask according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the warp has a density between 50 threads / cm and 70 threads / cm. Filtering face mask according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the weft and warp of said at least one textile layer are woven in plain taffeta. 9. The filtering face mask according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the transparent polymeric fibers are polyamide. 10. The filtering face mask according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the transparent polymeric fibers have a coating of polytetrafluoroethylene and / or of a biocidal agent. The filtering face mask according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the filtering face band (10) includes two superimposed textile layers (11) with identical properties. 12. The filtering face mask according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the perimeter of the filtering face band is a heat-welded perimeter (12), or sewn or sewn with transparent thread. The filtering face mask according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the filtering face band (10) is fixed at least perimeter on a transparent rigid or semi-rigid openwork structure (30). 14. The filtering face mask according to claim 13, wherein the filtering face band (10) includes at least one valve (31), connected to an air filter and fixed to the openwork structure (30), said at least one valve being located in a non-central area of the filtering face band (10). 15. The filtering face mask according to claim 14 wherein at least one textile layer (11) of the filtering face band (10) includes a sealing coating, or a polytetrafluoroethylene coating that reduces or eliminates its air permeability. 16. The filtering face mask according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the filtering face band (10) includes an elongated upper band (40) superimposed on the intrados of the filtering face band (10) and provided with an upper edge (41) joined to an upper edge of the filtering face band (10) and to a free lower edge (42), the upper band (40) being made of transparent polymeric filaments. 17. The filtering face mask according to claim 16 wherein the upper band (40) covers less than a third of the intrados of the filtering face band (10). 18. The filtering facial mask according to claim 16 or 17, wherein some lateral edges of the upper band (40) are free