Provo – BYU Engineering Department’s new technology can help prevent this COVID-19 Through traditional face masks.
A team of engineers created a new filter using electrospinning nanofibers. Fiber has an electrical charge that attracts COVID-19 particles.
When they placed the filter inside a piece of cloth made from a homemade face mask, it made the mask more effective or more effective than the N95 mask used by healthcare professionals.
Katie Varela, a senior at BYU Mechanical Engineering, says N95 face masks mean they are 95% effective in filtering particles. Ordinary cloth masks can block about 50% of the virus particles.
“We’ve come in the range of 95 to 99 with recent tests,” he said of their filters.
Clothing masks with filters still allow for air, water and heat circulation.
“This material is great for masks because it’s breathable. Current N95 masks are hot, and it’s hard to breathe,” he said. Nano Foundation Director Will Wahl. “You may have the best mask in the world but if you don’t wear it because it’s uncomfortable, it’s useless.”
The group plans to make the instructions open source … so it’s easy to get to the public.
