Writing? /? Caiyun Shi
Edited? /? Da Lu Huang
Design? /? Zhao Haoran
Photo? /?Ford, Jalopnik
Due to plant shutdowns and shortages of medical protective supplies caused by the outbreak, large automakers including GM, Ford and FCA have opted to partner with medical equipment companies to actively help produce much-needed medical equipment, including masks, air purifiers, respirators and ventilators. The process has also produced a host of excellent engineering and design solutions.
Ford used parts from its best-selling F-150 to work with its partners to design and build a new respirator, which the company internally called "Project?Apollo" because it's a bit like the Apollo 13 emergency rescue operation in which astronauts quickly solved a problem with the only resources they had. resources to solve a problem quickly.
The respirator, called the Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR), is a collaboration between Ford, 3M and the United Auto Workers (UAW). Ford's collaboration with 3M on the respirator is twofold: on the one hand, it will help boost production of 3M's current product; on the other hand, it will use a new design, incorporating Ford's own components, to produce a new design of respirator that will allow the new product to be used for more than eight hours.
"Ford and 3M have been looking at off-the-shelf components such as the blower used to cool the seats in the Ford F-150, 3M?s HEPA air filtration material that filters out airborne contaminants such as virus-carrying droplets, and portable battery packs that allow the respirator to operate for up to eight hours." ? Ford said in a press release.
"Ford is considering ways to produce these next-generation PAPR protective devices at its Michigan manufacturing facility, helping 3M increase production by a factor of 10."
Powered air-purifying respirators draw outside air that may be contaminated with viruses into a filtration system that purifies it before it is breathed by the wearer. Unlike passive filtration devices such as masks, which rely on the wearer to suck air through the filter, these powered respirators wrap the wearer's entire head in a hood and pump filtered air into the hood.
To do that, it needs something that actually sucks in air, which is why it needs power, and which is why Ford was able to intelligently put small car-related parts to use.
Ford utilizes a seat-cooling squirrel-cage blower in the F-150 pickup to draw air into a filter and then blow clean air into the supply hose of the respirator hood. Driving the fan requires a standard 12-volt power-tool battery pack, a bit like those often used in power drills.
According to the schematic, all of these small parts are housed in a 3D-printed plastic casing that is secured to a looped metal bar so that it can be worn.
The hood material was designed using simple Tyvek (high-density polyethylene synthetic paper), and the hose can be sourced from your own supply chain or the vacuum cleaner industry.
Ford also used 3D printing to customize the respirator hood plastic parts and filter components, which gives it a futuristic feel. On top of that, the automaker has partnered with GE?Healthcare to expand production of a simplified version of the respirator.
It's reminiscent of the simplified carbon dioxide air filters made by astronauts in emergencies during the Apollo 13 operation to protect themselves from the risk of poisoning - made from gray tape, cover cardboard from flight manuals, and pieces ripped from space suits, which is almost unimaginable.
This article comes from the authors of Motorhome Cars, and does not represent the views of Motorhome Cars.