通过强制臭氧对流实现高效口罩消毒
Efficient Facemask Sterilization via Forced Ozone Convection
摘要：
2020年初，新型冠状病毒疫情令全球措手不及，在多个国家之间及内部迅速蔓延而未被发现，并透过死亡人数及封城措施对全球经济造成严重破坏。治疗冠状病毒患者的医疗保健专业人员正在努力应对面罩呼吸器（FPRs）和其他个人防护设备（PPE）的大规模和前所未有的短缺，这些设备是保护治疗受冠状病毒影响的患者的医务人员健康的基本工具。虽然许多FPR被设计为一次性使用器械，但有必要制定灭菌策略以避免未来的短缺。在这里，我们描述了一种基于等离子体的方法，如FPRs与臭氧消毒PPE的发展。该新颖设计使用流通配置，其中臭氧通过维持压力梯度直接流过PPE的纤维。典型的基于臭氧的方法将面罩放置在密封的含臭氧的外壳中，但缺乏加压以渗透面罩纤维。在该装置中，臭氧是通过大气压介质阻挡放电（DBD）与压缩空气进料。由于FPR的供应有限和临床需求，我们演示了外科口罩的灭菌。我们证明了快速灭菌使用E。大肠杆菌作为模式病原体。相对于标准方法，流通配置能够使灭菌效率提高>400%。这种方法具有广泛和成本效益的利用潜力。使用现成的等离子球玩具，塑料盒，玻璃管，钢网和3D打印组件的电源，我们设计并测试了一种非常经济实惠的便携式原型系统，用于快速单面罩灭菌，其结果与其大型高成本相当。
英文摘要：
During the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, rapidly spreading undetected between and within many countries and wreaking havoc on the global economy both through death tolls and lockdowns. Healthcare professionals treating the coronavirus patients grapple with a massive and unprecedented shortage of Facepiece Respirators (FPRs) and other personal protective equipment (PPE), which act as fundamental tools to protect the health of the medical staff treating the patients affected by the coronavirus. While many FPRs are designed to be disposable single-use devices, the development of sterilization strategies is necessary to circumvent future shortages. Here, we describe the development of a plasma-based method to sterilize PPE such as FPRs with ozone. The novel design uses a flow-through configuration where ozone directly flows through the fibers of the PPE through the maintenance of a pressure gradient. Canonical ozone-based methods place the mask into a sealed ozone-containing enclosure but lack pressurization to permeate the mask fibers. In this device, ozone is created through an atmospheric pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) fed with compressed air. Due to limited supply and clinical need of FPRs, we demonstrated sterilization with surgical masks. We demonstrate rapid sterilization using E. coli as a model pathogen. A flow-through configuration enables a >400% improvement of the sterilization efficiency with respect to the canonical approach. This method has potential for a broad and cost-effective utilization. Using the power supply from a readily available plasma ball toy, a plastic box, a glass tube, steel mesh, and 3D printed components, we designed and tested an extremely affordable portable prototype system for rapid single mask sterilization which produced comparable results to its large high-cost equivalent.
机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来，可能存在错误，请以论文正文为准。
