Coronavirus Technology Solutions
April 30, 2020
Active Virus Filter Captures and Disrupts
Viruses
MAT Providing Filtration and Disinfection
Systems to UK Hospitals
Alpha Pro Tech Expands Production of Face Masks
Connect 2 Cleanrooms Can Supply Cleanrooms for
Ventilator Manufacture
Price Industries Supplies Fan Filter Units for
Temporary Isolation Rooms
AJ Manufacturing Providing FFUs for Isolation
Rooms
Envirco 800 CFM Portable Filtration System for
Patient Isolation
Panel Built Modular Cleanrooms Available Quickly
Panel Built Virus Testing Booths Utilize Glove Boxes for Safety and Comfort
Fully Scalable Modular Containment Units and
Isolation Systems
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Active Virus Filter Captures and Disrupts
Viruses
A team of scientists and engineers from
Cambridge, UK and Ma'alot-Tarshiha, Israel, have
developed a new carbon-based material that
captures and destroys an animal coronavirus, a
close relative of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that
causes COVID-19.
The Active Virus Filter in the form of a thin
carbon nanotube mat (TorStranTM) has the
filtration and air permeability properties which
allow it to capture free virus molecules and
those contained in airborne aerosolized
droplets. Both filtration and virus disruption
take place at the same time allowing the filter
to reduce the risk of infection by removing
contamination from the air.
The team envisage it being particularly useful
in confined situations such as emergency
vehicles, hospitals, transportation, waiting
areas and wards.
Prof Alan Windle, one of the original inventors
of the process to make the nanotube material at
Cambridge University, explained: "The original
objective of the process was to make
ultra-strong conductive fibres for a wide range
of applications. The fact that the nanotubes
compressed into an otherwise randomly oriented
mat makes an excellent filter for virus-bearing
airborne particles of moisture are suddenly very
important as the world faces its current COVID
19 crisis."
In Israel, development and manufacturing efforts
are being led by Meir Hefetz, Tortech CTO, who
said: "We are throwing our full resources behind
the project. We are meeting the initial
challenges of achieving the correct properties
in order to move on to practical scale-up
issues."
MAT Providing Filtration and Disinfection
Systems to UK Hospitals
Medical Air Technology (MAT) recently completed
work at Torbay Hospital, installing two new
ECO-flow ultraclean ventilation (UCV) canopies
as part of a major refurbishment project. MAT
was brought in after the hospital closed two of
its operating theatres following concerns about
the resilience of the air handling units. The
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
acted quickly to address the situation, bringing
forward plans to replace the ageing theatres and
putting in place a range of other strategies to
increase capacity in the remaining theatres,
ensuring disruption to patients and staff was
kept to an absolute minimum.
Of the two closed theatres, one was conventional
and the other included a UCV canopy. Following
the refurbishment, both theatres now have an MAT
ECO-flow 2800 UCV system, increasing the
hospital's orthopedic capacity. An interesting
element of the overall design was the trust’s
decision to use compact air handling units (AHUs)
due to limited plant space. Each of the compact
AHUs feeds into a common duct header, servicing
both theatres. Motorized dampers and pressure
sensors ensure the ventilation to each theatre
can be controlled independently.
MAT and its sister company, MAT FM, have both
previously carried out work at Torbay Hospital,
so the installation team was familiar with the
site and estates department, streamlining
planning and processes.
MAT has performed an assortment of upgrades on
an operating theatre at Fairfield Independent
Hospital. The independent charitable hospital in
Merseyside, UK, is investing in medical
equipment in line with its development plan,
evidenced by the recent decision to bring in the
specialist contractor.
MAT has upgraded Theatre 2 to ultraclean with
the installation of an ECO-flow ultraclean
ventilation (UCV) system.
Fairfield Independent Hospital contracted MAT
after a formal tender process and the board
approved its business case. The hospital stated
that the company demonstrated a clear
understanding of the requirements and project
drivers, giving cost certainty and evidence of
flexibility of installation to meet surgical
demands.
In addition to the theatre refit, MAT carried
out hydrogen peroxide disinfection of both
theatre suites and the surrounding department.
The installation took 18 working days.
This is not the first time MAT has worked at
Fairfield Independent Hospital. In 2017-2018,
MAT carried out modification of the existing
sterile pack store to separate it into two prep
rooms, one serving each theatre. As part of
this, MAT installed one of its lay-up cabinets,
initially loaned to the hospital for a trial.
The hospital went on to purchase it and also
bought a second unit for the other prep room.
Andrew Jones, Director of Hospital Services at
Fairfield Independent Hospital, said: “We are
very happy with the work carried out by MAT.
Throughout the project, we appreciated the
benefits of working with a company with such a
thorough understanding of surgical site
infection and a portfolio of products designed
to address it.”
Jones added: “The new prep rooms and theatre
give our clinical teams the best environment for
delivering the outstanding, safe care patients
have come to expect from Fairfield Independent
Hospital.”
This turnkey project started with the strip-out
of the existing theatre, before work began to
install the new energy-efficient ECO-flow 2.8
UCV system, complete with new extract air
handling unit, ventilation system, electrics,
pressure stabilizers, thermal insulation,
medical gases and BMS controls. The refit also
included a touchscreen theatre panel, IPS/UPS
and operating lights, provided by Brandon
Medical, completing the upgrade of this fully
HBN- and HTM-compliant theatre.
Hydrogen Peroxide Disinfection: It can be very
difficult to ensure the specialist equipment and
various surface areas in this key hospital area
are disinfected effectively. However, the
delivery system for the patented hydrogen
peroxide and silver solution used in this
disinfection process reaches areas where
traditional cleaning methods cannot and is
extremely successful at eliminating dangerous
bacteria and viruses. At Fairfield Independent
Hospital, MAT sprayed everything in the two
theatre suites, recovery and adjoining areas,
including medical equipment left in situ.
The area was then fogged to ensure thorough
disinfection.
The MAT lay-up cabinet was the perfect solution
when Fairfield Independent Hospital wanted to
turn an existing sterile pack store into two
theatre prep rooms. Requiring minimal building
infrastructure and installation work, the lay-up
cabinet improves infection control around
surgical instrument reparation and turns a
sterile pack store into an area suitable for
laying-up instruments, delivering an ultraclean
airflow regime over instrument trays. It can
also increase theatre throughput as it
eliminates the need to waste valuable theatre
time by laying-up under the UCV canopy.
Alpha Pro Tech Expands Production of Face Masks
Lloyd Hoffman, President and CEO of Alpha Pro
Tech, said that orders for the face mask in
recent months have
been roughly 24 times the revenue that the
company has recorded from sales of this product
for each year since 2016.
“We have already commenced additional production
of our N-95 face mask at our Salt Lake City,
Utah facility, and we expect to continue to
increase our production capacity,” added
Hoffman.
“Despite our rapid increase in production
capacity, the backlog of orders continues to
expand, in dollar amount and fulfilment time. We
expect to fulfil approximately 30% of the
currently booked orders in the first quarter of
2020, and we expect further revenue growth after
the first quarter as additional orders are
shipped,” Hoffman explained. “We are committed
to allocating the necessary resources and
procuring the necessary raw materials in an
effort to meet this unprecedented demand for our
N-95 face mask and to aid communities around the
world as they address this ongoing healthcare
crisis.”
The Alpha Pro Tech N-95 Particulate Respirator
face mask’s unique flat-fold design features a
Positive Facial Lock (PFL) and meets the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) and
National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health’s (NIOSH) recommended protection levels
for many airborne contaminants.
The N-95 face mask filters at least 95% of
airborne particles. The integrated Magic Arch
technology creates a comfortable breathing
chamber within the N-95 face mask by holding it
away from the wearer’s nose and mouth.
Alpha Pro Tech, Ltd is the parent company of
Alpha Pro Tech, Inc and Alpha ProTech Engineered
Products, Inc. The company develops,
manufactures and markets innovative disposable
and limited-use protective apparel products for
the industrial, cleanroom, medical and dental
markets.
Connect 2 Cleanrooms Can Supply Cleanrooms for
Ventilator Manufacture
As a provider of cleanrooms, PPE and testing
services, Connect 2 Cleanrooms is an essential
business. It is open and will prioritize all
enquiries for controlled environments required
as part of the fight against Coronavirus
(COVID-19), including those looking for medical
device cleanrooms to diversity their
manufacturing environments to support the
ventilator production efforts.
Price Industries Supplies Fan Filter Units for
Temporary Isolation Rooms
Price Industries is one of the largest
manufacturers and suppliers of air distribution
products in North America. With four
manufacturing facilities in the United States
and five in Canada. Its core competencies in
Healthcare and Federal markets include
renovations, expansions, new construction,
master plans, peer review, equipment
replacement, and more. It has furnished fan
filter units for a number of recent COVID
projects
MetroSouth Medical Center Location: Blue Island,
IL Product: Exhaust Flow Fan Filter Unit
(FFU)
MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island
will reopen to house coronavirus patients.
MetroSouth Medical Center located near Chicago,
IL had closed its doors to patients a few months
ago. Since then, COVID-19 has gained momentum in
the US, and as such, the Capital Development
Board has decided to re-open the hospital for
isolation and quarantine of patients with
COVID-19.
As soon as the team at Brucker was aware of the
potential of Price Fan Filter Units as a way to
retrofit existing patient rooms to create
negative pressure isolation rooms they shared
that information with the healthcare community.
The ability to provide a quick, flexible and
effective solution in response to this
fast-moving virus was of utmost importance. As
proof of concept for this publicly funded
project, a sample FFU was provided within three
days, and a subsequent shipment of 50 units
arrived just three days after that. This
unprecedented speed of response is helping to
renovate spaces quickly to keep up with the
demand for patient isolation rooms.
Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center
Location: Baton Rouge, LA Product: Exhaust Flow
Fan Filter Unit (FFU)
Engineers working with Our Lady of the Lake
Regional Medical Center reached out to Air-Side
Equipment, Inc. to find out what options were
available to create temporary isolation rooms
quickly to meet the sudden influx of patients.
Price offers a reverse/exhaust flow fan filter
unit (FFU) that is perfect for these
applications. The fan filter unit can be used to
draw air out of the room to create negative room
pressure, and also to HEPA filter the air so
that it is safe to exhaust. On this project, the
engineer chose to exhaust air directly to the
outdoors instead of returning it through the
existing HVAC system to mitigate the amount of
invasive work that would have to be carried out,
and ultimately expedite the installation
process. Getting the fan filter units to site
quickly was paramount in completing the project
on time. The FFUs on this project were ordered
with a 10-Day Quick Ship, and Price was able to
fulfil the order one day early, further
expediting the installation process.
Hackensack University Medical Center Location:
Hackensack, NJ. Product: Exhaust Flow Fan Filter
Unit (FFU)
Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University
Medical Center Converts Cafeteria into 74- Bed
COVID-19 Treatment Unit. The team at Mechanical
Technologies made a concerted effort to present
viable options for creating retrofit isolation
spaces to various hospitals, contractors, and
engineers in New Jersey, an area that has been
heavily impacted by COVID-19. Hackensack
University Medical Center is facing such high
volumes of patients that they are converting
auxiliary spaces in the hospital to temporary
negative pressure isolation spaces. Price
provided exhaust flow fan filter units that have
been suspended from the ceiling in the
hospital’s cafeteria to create a large, negative
pressure communal space that now houses patients
that require medical attention but are not in
intensive care. The fan filter units on this
project were produced on a 5-Day Quick Ship,
allowing the retrofit process to take place in
time for the sudden influx in patients.
AJ Manufacturing
Providing FFUs for Isolation Rooms
AJ Manufacturing has introduced a portable
version of its Reverse Flow Criti-Clean Ultra™
Fan Filter Unit (FFU) to quickly and easily
create patient isolation rooms. The new units
were specifically developed to help protect
healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients
and to help reduce the spread of the virus.
Like the original ceiling-mounted model, the
portable Reverse Flow Criti-Clean Ultra™ FFU
connects to existing ductwork and creates a
negative pressure environment that removes the
air from a patient room and cleans it via the
unit's built-in HEPA filter, keeping airborne
contaminants from escaping. The unit comes on
wheels for easy movement and can be plugged into
a standard electrical wall outlet.
"We're proud to be able to do our small part to
help protect healthcare workers who are treating
the growing number of coronavirus patients,"
said Rob Haake,
president of AJ Manufacturing. "Our plant is
100% focused on producing both our permanent and
portable FFU models for as long as they are
needed to help stop the spread of the virus."
In addition to reverse flow units that take in
air and remove it from a room, standard FFU
models – both ceiling mounted and portable – are
also available to bring HEPA filtered air into a
room. AJ's ceiling mounted FFUs offer the
industry's lowest plenum height of just 13.7″,
allowing easier retrofitting into existing
ceiling spaces.
Envirco 800 CFM Portable Filtration System for
Patient Isolation
The Envirco Hospi-Gard® IsoClean® is a portable,
self-contained high efficiency particulate air
(HEPA) filtration system designed to easily and
economically create a negative pressure
isolation room/environment that will meet OSHA
and CDC TB guidelines.
The IsoClean® can be used as a positive pressure
clean air recirculating system in clinics,
waiting rooms, hospital emergency rooms and
other confined areas or as a partial or complete
exhausting system to create a negative pressure
isolation room for possible use with patients
known or suspected of having TB, SARS or other
infectious diseases.
As a recirculating unit, the IsoClean®’s
powerful motor/blower can deliver from 560 CFM
(951 m3/hr) up to 800 CFM (1359 m3/hr) to
provide a large number of room air changes per
hour to minimize the spread of airborne diseases
to patients and health care workers.
As a negative pressure unit, the air passing
through the HEPA filter is cleansed of 99.99% of
particles as small as 0.3 micron and may be
exhausted directly to the exterior through a
window, or through a wall simply by connecting
flexible ducting to the 6 in. (152 mm) collar
located on the top of the IsoClean®.
The Hospi-Gard® IsoClean® filter contains 220
square feet (20.4 square meters) of media to
extend its usable lifetime before filter loading
occurs, resulting in decreased cost and fewer
filter changes.
An easy and economical solution for creating a
negative pressure, isolation room. Simply roll
the IsoClean® into a standard room, connect
flexible ducting to the 6 in. (152 mm) collar on
the top of the unit for partial exhaust or to
the optional 8 in. (204 mm) flanged collar for
total exhaust and vent the purified air to the
exterior through a window or wall.
The versatile IsoClean® can be used as a clean
air recirculating unit, a negative pressure unit
or as a split system to create both negative
pressure and clean air recirculation by
simultaneously exhausting some of the air out
while recirculating the remainder back into the
room.
The IsoClean® can be rolled from one room to
another and easily fits into areas with limited
floor space. Quiet Operation 52 dBA on low, 56
dBA on medium and 60dBA on high speed measured
30 in. (762mm) from face of the unit.
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Panel Built Modular Cleanrooms Available Quickly
Panel Built has introduced negative pressure
isolation rooms that are fully fabricated
offsite to help hospitals increase
single-occupancy isolation space as quickly as
possible.
Using a panelized wall system, the isolation
rooms are fully fabricated in Panel Built’s
modular construction facilities. The components
are then delivered and assembled on site. This
design allows for prefabricated, quickly
assembled isolation rooms that have fully
customized layouts and designs.
Like modular cleanrooms, Panel Built’s isolation
rooms offer options, (where situations warrant),
for HVAC systems with fan filter units (FFUs) to
keep the room at appropriate temperatures and
constantly filter particles with HEPA filtration
and UV light from the environment’s air supply
with the numerous air exchanges per hour
Unlike most manufactured cleanrooms, patient
isolation rooms can be customized with a
negative pressure environment for patients who
may have an impaired immune system and may be a
carrier for other infectious diseases that are
airborne spread rather than the droplet
coronavirus.
Diseases such as TB, Measles, Mumps, Varicella
and other respiratory infections fall into the
airborne category. When the negative pressure
isolation room is needed, the air pressure
inside the isolation room is lower than entrance
ante room to keep air flowing into the patient
isolation room instead of out, thus keeping any
contaminants or particles from escaping the
room.
All isolation rooms should be used in
conjunction with proper staff and equipment
sanitizing and hospital contamination control
procedures.
Panel Built’s Steve Grzesik, Sales Manager
Welded Steel Division, said: "While Panel Built
is a for-profit company, our first objective is
to help our nation and others meet the challenge
and help save lives. Our nation's largest
hospitals and long term care centres will need
all the isolation bed space they can get, and
Panel Built is ready to help meet the need.”
M.R. Secure Sales spokesman stated: “There are
330 million persons in the US. Predictions are,
over the next 12-18 months, approximately 1% of
the USA population (if tested) may be infected
with the Coronavirus. If proper protocol is to
be followed, 3.3 million isolation rooms may be
needed in the US alone. The nation’s largest
hospitals in total, may currently have fewer
than several thousand isolation rooms."
Panel Built Virus Testing Booths Utilize Glove
Boxes for Safety and Comfort
Panel Built’s new line of booths, Swab
Booths or Virus
Testing Booths,
utilize a design very similar to their standard
booth with a couple of features to create a more
comfortable, more convenient, and more safe
environment for testing potential COVID-19
patients. The new booths make use of a
specialized, full window which measures six feet
in length and is formed from polycarbonate. 10″
diameter glove ports are installed attached to
18″ glovebox sleeves. The sleeves are made from
neoprene and are accordion in style. At the end
of the sleeve are nitrile gloves. The nitrile
gloves may be easily changed out without having
to change the accordion sleeves themselves, and
the sleeves can accommodate different glove
sizes.
The rest of the booth maintains Panel Built’s
traditional security booth design. The building
is formed from 3 inch thick, steel skinned wall
panels with a polystyrene core. The booths come
pre-wired with a full electrical package which
includes a ceiling-mounted LED light fixture, a
duplex receptacle, and wall switch. The booths
are available with a wall HVAC to ensure the
tester stays comfortable within the booth at all
times. The swab testing booths are delivered to
the testing site pre-assembled and include a
forklift able steel base for quick and easy
off-loading.
Panel Built’s swab testing booths are designed
for outdoor use with a 3-inch thick aluminum
roof; however, they can be utilized in both
interior and exterior environments. The standard
swab booth model is a one-person, 4 ft x 4 ft x
8 ft design, but custom sizes and layouts can be
assembled based upon customers’ needs. Having
the glove ports installed into the full-length
windows allows for a clear line-of-site for the
medical professional (MP) to administer the
nasal swab test to patients of all types. The
4ft by 4ft footprint allows enough room for a
seat or stool if it is more comfortable for the
MP inside. Overall, the swab booth design
primarily aims to help protect the MP when
administering the test, reduce the usage of
high-demand PPE, and offer a comfortable
environment for the person administering the
test.
Fully Scalable Modular Containment Units and
Isolation Systems
MDI Mobile Cleanrooms, a division of Modular
Devices Inc., a leading provider of mobile cath
labs, modular medical labs and pharmacy
compounding cleanrooms, in partnership with
Cleanroom Design LLC, a leading cleanroom
engineering services provider, announced the
release of fully scalable Modular Containment
Units and Isolation Systems designed to help
diagnose and prevent the spread of the deadly
Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)
and other respiratory and airborne illnesses.
MDI’s Modular Containment units are pre-built
modular structures that can be placed
individually indoors or outdoors and can be
easily expanded and attached together to form a
single connected modular unit. The Modular
Containment Units can be quickly deployed to add
diagnostic, isolation and ICU rooms for
hospitals, medical facilities and government
agencies trying to meet the surge in Covid-19
cases.
The MDI Modular Containment Units can be
engineered for:
-
Diagnosis – designed for initial
containment and diagnosis.
-
Isolation – designed for
isolation or as an ICU suite
with a patient bed and separate
connected modular restroom.
3.
MDI has
the resources and manufacturing
capability to create and scale a Modular
Containment Unit that can be quickly deployed to
facilities across the country”, said Greg Mink,
COO of Modular Devices Inc. (MDI). “The
modular nature of our offering gives healthcare
and government facilities the ability to quickly
add diagnostic and isolation rooms for patients
to meet the surge in demand in efforts to
contain this virus.”
4.
The MDI Modular Containment Units are currently
being manufactured and are available now for
delivery across the U.S. MDI also provides
training, service and support.
