WO2022180437A1

WO2022180437A1 - A wearable air filtration device

Info

Publication number: WO2022180437A1
Application number: PCT/IB2021/053113
Authority: WO
Inventors: Venkatesh Parthasarthy; Pradeep Vamana; Anand Tulsidas Pavaskar
Original assignee: Venkatesh Parthasarthy
Priority date: 2021-02-26
Filing date: 2021-04-15
Publication date: 2022-09-01

Abstract

A wearable air filtration device (10) is disclosed. The device includes a head gear (20) to be worn by a wearer. The device includes an air filtration unit (30) housed inside the head gear. The air filtration unit includes a high air intake fan (50) to pull external air at a predefined air flow rate through a nano filtration media (60). The nano filtration media filters pre-determined size of particles presents in the external air. The device includes a face shield (150) coupled to a front surface (160) of the head gear. The face shield includes a transparent visor (170) to cover face of the wearer. The face shield also includes a fabric seal (180) integrated with the transparent visor using a coupling means (190). The fabric seal provides sealing along a jawline and checks of the wearer. The fabric seal is coated with a nano material to filter exhaust air by eliminating bacteria and virus particles released by the wearer.

Description

A WEARABLE AIR FILTRATION DEVICE

EARLIEST PRIORITY DATE:

This Application claims priority from a Complete patent application filed in India having Patent Application No. 202141008127, filed on February 26, 2021 and titled “A WEARABLE AIR FILTRATION DEVICE”.

FIELD OF INVENTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a wearable air filtration device, and more particularly to, a powered air purification respirator which delivers filtered air inside the head gear with an integrated sealed fully transparent face shield. BACKGROUND

The quality of air is increasingly polluted with virus, smoke particles, pollen, or the like. Getting clean and safe air is extremely important while being mobile and face should be visible to each other. Due to industrial development, air pollution is getting worse, and people wear masks or the like in order to prevent respiratory diseases. The mask worn according to the environment in which the air is contaminated, or the working environment has a disadvantage to secure a field of view due to the worn mask, and various inconveniences such as water vapor are generated due to the mask worn during the breathing process. In particular, in the case of a wearer using glasses, water vapor is generated due to a mask worn in the course of breathing, and as a result, condensation occurs in the glasses, consequently, such condition is uncomfortable to work with and workability is significantly reduced.

Furthermore, many people using filtered face piece complain of headache, anxiety of getting infected due to imperfect face-to-mask fit and impaired visual communication as mouth areas are opaque. With the advancement in technology, a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) is developed to use in various fields. PAPR is a type of respirator used to safeguard wearers against contaminated air. PAPRs consist of a headgear-and-fan assembly that takes ambient air contaminated with one or more type of impurities such as air pollutant, viruses, pathogen or the like, which then actively filters a sufficient proportion of these impurities, and then delivers the clean air to the wearer's face or mouth and nose. However, such PAPRs are very expensive, bulky and difficult to sterilize.

Hence, there is a need for an improved wearable air filtration device to address the aforementioned issue(s).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, a wearable air filtration device is provided. The device includes a head gear configured to be worn by a wearer. The device also includes an air filtration unit housed inside the head gear. The air filtration unit includes a high air intake fan configured to pull external air at a predefined air flow rate through a nano filtration media. The nano filtration media is configured to filter pre determined size of particles present in the external air. The device includes a face shield coupled to a front surface of the head gear. The face shield includes a transparent visor configured to cover face of the wearer. The face shield also includes a fabric seal integrated with the transparent visor using a coupling means. The fabric seal is configured to provide sealing along a jawline and checks of the wearer. The fabric seal is coated with a nano material to filter exhaust air by eliminating bacteria and virus particles potentially released by the wearer.

To further clarify the advantages and features of the present disclosure, a more particular description of the disclosure will follow by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which are illustrated in the appended figures. It is to be appreciated that these figures depict only typical embodiments of the disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting in scope. The disclosure will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the appended figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The disclosure will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the accompanying figures in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a wearable air filtration device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of one embodiment of the wearable air filtration device depicting air filtration unit of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic of one embodiment of air filtration unit of FIG. 1 , depicting various other components of the air filtration unit in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of one embodiment of the wearable air filtration device of FIG. 1, where FIG. 4(a) is internal view of the head gear depicting the air filtration unit and FIG. 4(b) is a side view of the wearable air filtration device worn by a wearer in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of another embodiment of the wearable air filtration device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of operation the wearable air filtration device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and may not have necessarily been drawn to scale. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the figures by conventional symbols, and the figures may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the figures with details that will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the disclosure, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the figures and specific language will be used to describe them. Such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the disclosure as would normally occur to those skilled in the art are to be construed as being within the scope of the present disclosure.

The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process or method that comprises a list of steps does not include only those steps but may include other steps not expressly listed or inherent to such a process or method. Similarly, one or more devices or sub-systems or elements or structures or components preceded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other devices, sub-systems, elements, structures, components, additional devices, additional sub-systems, additional elements, additional structures or additional components. Appearances of the phrase "in an embodiment", "in another embodiment" and similar language throughout this specification may, but not necessarily do, all refer to the same embodiment.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are only illustrative and not intended to be limiting.

In the following specification and the claims, reference will be made to a number of terms, which shall be defined to have the following meanings. The singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a wearable air filtration device. As used herein, the wearable air filtration device is configured to protect a wearer from infectious aerosols/pollutants such as smoke, infectious gas, paint, virus, bacteria or the like.

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a wearable air filtration device (10) in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The device (10) includes a head gear (20) which is configured to be worn by a wearer. In one embodiment, the head gear (20) may include at least one of a hard cap, a baseball cap, an English cap, a hat, a headband and a medical PAPR. In such an embodiment, the head gear (20) may be composed of a plastic material or a synthetic material. The device (10) also includes an air filtration unit (30) housed inside the head gear (20). As shown in FIG. 2, the air filtration unit (30) is enclosed in a plastic enclosure (40). The air filtration unit (40) includes a high air intake fan (50) configured to pull external air at a predefined air flow rate through a nano filtration media (60). The high air intake fan (50) is configured to pull the external air and blow the external air in the downward direction. In one embodiment, the predefined air flow rate may include a range of 50 liters per minute to 90 liters per minute. The nano filtration media (60) is configured to filter pre-determined size of particles present in the external air. In a specific embodiment, the predetermined size of particles may include a size of 0.3 micron. The nano filtration media (60) may also remove larger particles from the external air at 95% or more efficiency. Furthermore, the air filtration unit (30) includes a battery (70, FIG. 3) which is configured to supply power to the high air intake fan (50) for the operation of the same. In a specific embodiment, the battery (70, FIG. 3) may be a lithium ion or lithium polymer battery. In some embodiments, the battery (70, FIG. 3) of the air filtration unit (30) may be charged using a universal serial bus (USB) cable (not shown in FIG. 2). Various other components of the air filtration unit (30) are described in detail in FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, the air filtration unit (30) includes a printed circuit board (PCB) (80) which may further includes a power boosting device (90). As used herein, the power boosting device (90) is a boost converter which is a DC-to-DC power converter that steps up voltage (while stepping down current) from an input (supply) to an output (load). Further, the PCB (80) may include a proximity sensor (100) which may be an air proximity sensor. The air proximity sensor is a non-contact sensor, capable of detecting the presence of an object at predefined range. The presence of the object within the sensing range deflects the normal air flow and results in a positive output signal. As used herein, the proximity sensor is configured to detect placement of the head gear on the head. More specifically, the proximity sensor senses that whether the head gear is present on the head of the wearer or not.

Moreover, the PCB (80) includes a Bluetooth and wi-fi module (110) which is configured to establish a communication of the wearable air filtration device (10) with one or more external device (120). In such an embodiment, the one or more external devices may include a mobile phone, a computer, a laptop, a tablet, a PDA device or a wearable monitoring device. In a specific embodiment, the Bluetooth and wi-fi module (110) may be configured to control the airflow rate linked to heart rate of the wearer. The airflow rate is linked to the heart rate using a heart rate sensor or a wearable monitoring device. As used herein, the heart rate sensor is an infrared sensor which is responsible for sending infrared light to the body. The infrared sensor has a pair of transmitter and receiver. Using photodiode may also detect reflective light from the body and this signal is sent to the microcontroller to detect heartbeat. In some embodiments, the wearable monitoring device may include a smart watch, a smart jacket, a wearable smart strap or the like. The heart rate sensor or a wearable monitoring device is substantially similar to the one or more external devices (120).

The PCB (80) further includes the microcontroller (130) which is configured to control operation of the air filtration unit (30). The microcontroller (130) receives input power signal from the battery (70) and sends an initial signal to the high air intake fan (50) to pulls the external air from the environment. The external air pulls by the high air intake fan (50) is directed to the air filtration media (60) which further removes the small and large particles/microorganisms present in the external air. The microcontroller (130) may be configured to control the power boosting device (90), the one or mor proximity sensor (100), the one or more external devices (120) and the Bluetooth and wi-fi module (110). In one embodiment, the PCB may include camera attachments, Bluetooth based microphone, earphones or the like.

In a specific embodiment, the air filtration unit (30) may include a UV-C air sterilization module (140) which is configured to expose UV-C (ultraviolet-c) light on the external air pulled by the high air intake fan (50) to kill microorganisms present in the external air. The UV-C air sterilization module (140) uses short-wavelength ultraviolet (ultraviolet C) light to kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions. The air filtration unit (30) may include Ionizer capabilities to purify air using ions.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the device (10) includes a face shield (150) coupled to a front surface (160) of the head gear (20). The face shield (150) includes a transparent visor (170) configured to cover face of the wearer. The face shield (150) also includes a fabric seal (180) integrated with the transparent visor (170) using a coupling means (190). In one embodiment, the transparent visor (170) may be composed of a material including plastic. In such an embodiment, the coupling means (190) may include at least one of a zipper, a sewing mechanism or the like. The zipper may be a transparent plastic zipper and the fabric seal (180) is stitched at a bottom surface (200) of the transparent visor (170). The fabric seal (180) is configured to provide sealing along a jawline and checks of the wearer. The fabric seal ( 180) is coated with a nano material to filter exhaust air by eliminating bacteria and virus particles potentially released by the wearer. The nano material coating creates anti-bacterial and anti-viral components on to textile fibers. In one embodiment, the fabric seal (180) may be a webbed fabric having an elastic material (210) stitched around the corner of the fabric seal (180) to form seal around the jawline of the face of the wearer. More specifically, the elastic material (210) seals around the jawline to suit different face profiles. The device (10) protects user from infectious aerosols, while allowing for normal visual communication. Further, exhaust air from the wearer, is filtered through the nano coating on the webbed breathable fabric before released to atmosphere.

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of one embodiment of the wearable air filtration device (10) of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4(a), in another embodiment, the air filtration unit (30) is detachable from the head gear (20) to be used as an independent air filtration unit in an enclosed environment comprising at least one of a room, office, a car and the like. More specifically, the air filtration unit (30) is housed in the plastic enclosure (40) which is located inner side (220) of the head gear (20). The air filtration unit (30) is easily removable from the plastic enclosure (40) and used as a personal air filtration unit within car or any table. As shown in FIG. 4(b), the fabric seal (180) may include a pipe (230) which is configured to enable drinking while wearing the head gear (20). For an example, a straw may be inserted in the web of the fabric seal ( 180) which further enables the wearer to drink any fluid such as water or the like.

In one embodiment, the head gear (20) may include a light emitting diode (LED) device (240) which is configured to provide illumination to the wearer of the device (10). In such an embodiment, the LED device (240) may be powered by the battery (70, FIG. 3) and controlled by the microcontroller (130, FIG. 3).

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of another embodiment of the wearable air filtration device (10) in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, the head gear (20) may be a medical PAPR. The medical PAPR includes a headband (250) to be worn around the head of the wearer (260). The medical PAPR also includes an air filtration unit (not shown in FIG. 5) housed inside the headband. The air filtration unit includes a high air intake fan configured to pull external air at a predefined air flow rate through a nano filtration media. The nano filtration media is configured to filter pre-determined size of particles present in the external air. The medical PAPR includes a face shield (150) coupled to a front surface (270) of the headband. The face shield (150) includes a transparent visor (170) configured to cover face of the wearer (260). The face shield (150) also includes a fabric seal (180) integrated with the transparent visor (170) using a coupling means. The fabric seal (180) is configured to provide sealing along a jawline and checks of the face of the wearer. The fabric seal (180) is coated with a nano material to filter exhaust air by eliminating bacteria and virus particles potentially released by the wearer. In one embodiment, the headband (250) includes a battery (70, FIG. 3) and a microcontroller (130, FIG. 3) to operate and control the air filtration unit. In a specific embodiment, the headband may include an LED device (240) such as LED lamp to provide illumination for the wearer.

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of operation the wearable air filtration device (10) in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The wearer wears the wearable air filtration device (10) on his head and tighten the head gear on the wearer’s head using standard head gear tightening mechanisms (290). On Switching on the air filtration unit (30) and adjusting the level of air flow rate, the user may get sufficient air depending on his physical activity. For example, when the user turns on the switch of air filtration unit (30, FIG. 3), the high air intake fan (50, FIG. 3) pulls external air at above 501pm through the nano filtration media (60, FIG. 2) which filters particles above 0.2 microns at 95% or above efficiency. This filtered air is delivered into a sealed atmosphere created by the transparent visor (170) and the fabric seal (180) which provides sealing along the jawline and cheeks of a face of the wearer. The wearer will be able to inhale filtered air comfortably irrespective of his/her activities (normal working, jogging or high intensity exercise). When the wearer exhales air into the sealed atmosphere of the face shield (150), the exhaled air is filtered for bacteria and virus using a nano coating which is implemented on the fabric seal. The seal is comfortably adjusted along the jawline or around the facial hair to sure good seal.

Using a USB cable, the air filtration unit may be fully charged using a rechargeable battery. The battery may operate for 6-8 hours on full charge. The fully transparent face shield may be removed and replaced using the invisible zippers. The head gear may be washable after removing the air filtration unit. The filtration media needs to be replaced after using for example, 100 hours of run time.

Various embodiments of the wearable air filtration device described above enables compact and lighter design. The device provides exhaust air filtration using nano coating and easy replacement of face shield. The device may also provide optimized air flow volume linked to user heart-rate to improve user experience and enhance battery life. The device further provides loose fitting face seal along jawline and cheeks with exhaust air filtration. The device has low noise (< 60dBA) and lightest in weight (300 grams, 60% lighter than conventional). The device provides pure air which allows comfortable breathing with over 90 Lpm airflow and is compatible with ETO sterilization. The device enables elegant and aesthetically pleasing integration of filtration unit into head gear.

In addition, the air filtration unit blowing the air in the downward direction so that it is possible to breathe with purified air without wearing a separate accessory such as a mask to purify the air required for breathing. The wearer inhales fresh air which enters the inhaling range of the wearer after the air supply filter is sterilized, disinfected and filtered, the air exhaled by the user is exhausted to the outside through the nano coated fabric seal and is not in the inhaling range of the wearer. The exhaled air may be effectively prevented from polluting the fresh air which needs to be inhaled, and the risk of various viruses which are spread through air or spray may be effectively prevented. Antibacterial activity of coated fabric was performed by using AATCC TM-147 method for qualitative evaluation of antibacterial activity of diffusible antimicrobial agents on treated textile. Microorganisms used in assays were Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 11296), selected according to the standards. It was found that the coated fabric did not allow the bacterial growth and moreover it was cytotoxic to the bacterial cells that proved the anti-microbial activity of the coated fabric.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory of the disclosure and are not intended to be restrictive thereof.

While specific language has been used to describe the disclosure, any limitations arising on account of the same are not intended. As would be apparent to a person skilled in the art, various working modifications may be made to the method in order to implement the inventive concept as taught herein. The figures and the foregoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, the order of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein. Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in the order shown; nor do all of the acts need to be necessarily performed. Also, those acts that are not dependent on other acts may be performed in parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no means limited by these specific examples.

Claims

WE CLAIM:

1. A wearable air filtration device (10) comprising: a head gear (20) configured to be worn by a wearer; an air filtration unit (30) housed inside the head gear (20), wherein the air filtration unit (30) comprises a high air intake fan (50) configured to pull external air at a predefined air flow rate through a nano filtration media (60), wherein the nano filtration media (60) is configured to filter pre-determined size of particles present in the external air; and a face shield (150) coupled to a front surface (160) of the head gear (20), wherein the face shield (150) comprises: a transparent visor (170) configured to cover face of the wearer; and a fabric seal (180) integrated with the transparent visor (170) using a coupling means (190), wherein the fabric seal (180) is configured to provide sealing along a jawline and checks of the wearer, wherein the fabric seal (180) is coated with a nano material to filter exhaust air by eliminating bacteria and virus particles potentially released by the wearer.

2. The device (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the head gear (20) comprises at least one of a hard cap, a baseball cap, an English cap, a hat, a headband and a medical PAPR.

3. The device (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air filtration unit (30) comprises a printed circuit board (80) comprising: a battery management system, a power boosting device (90), one or more proximity sensors (100), camera attachments, Bluetooth based microphone, earphones and a light emitting diode (LED) module (240); and a microcontroller (130) configured to control the air filtration unit (30).

4. The device (10) as claimed in claim 3, wherein the Bluetooth and wi-fi module ( 110) is configured to control the airflow rate linked to heart rate of the wearer, wherein the airflow rate linked to the heart rate using one or more external devices (120) comprising a heart rate sensor or a wearable monitoring device.

5. The device (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air filtration unit (30) comprises: an ultraviolet (UV-C) air sterilization module (140) configured to expose UV- C light on the external air pulled by the high air intake fan (50) to kill microorganisms present in the external air; and an ionizer configured to purify the external air using ions.

6. The device (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predefined air flow rate comprises 50 to 90 liters per minute.

7. The device (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coupling means (190) comprises at least one of a zipper and a sewing mechanism.

8. The device (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fabric seal (180) comprises a webbed fabric having an elastic material (210) around the corner of the fabric seal (180) to form seal around the jawline of the face of the wearer.

9. The device (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fabric seal (180) comprises a pipe (230) configured to enable drinking while wearing the head gear (20).

10. The device (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air filtration unit (30) is detachable from the head gear (20) to be used as an independent air filtration unit in an enclosed environment comprising at least one of a room, office and a car.