Focusing on designs which are easy to manufacture and easy to assemble, Georgia Tech has developed a 2D rigid reusable shield. This design has been featured as a cover image on the landing page of the New York Times. The rigid reusable shield can be made in mass production by laser cutting, waterjet cutting and injection molding. It can be done at a lower rate with 3-D printing. The replacement film for the shield can be mass produced by laser jet cutting and die cutting. It can be produced at home by cutting the rough geometry from any available rigid film, such as office transparencies, and creating the tab features for mounting to the frame using a standard 3-hole punch set at standard width. The team leveraged multiple rapid prototyping/manufacturing capabilities at Georgia Tech, including the Flowers Invention Studio and the Global Center for Medical Innovation (GCMI), to iterate and finalize the design directly with clinicians from Emory Hospital and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Georgia Tech has already donated 1,000 rigid frames and 5,000 disposable/reusable films to area hospitals. These facilities also are supporting rapid evaluation of material and other specification deviation requests by suppliers. Georgia Tech has provided daily production capability of up to 2,000 rigid frames per day for the rigid reusable shield and up to 3,000 disposable/reusable films per day. Additionally, Georgia Tech has collaborated with GCMI to deploy the shield frame design to processing using injection molding. The production is a truly scalable solution that is capable on a single machine of 150,000 frames per week in its current configuration, and is scalable up to 250,000 frames per day with multi-cavity, multi-facility molding. Further pictures are available at the main project site.
The following refers to: 3DPX-013314
The FDA has authorized production of protective face shields outside of the normal clearance pathway during the Covid-19 pandemic, based on Part 5, section D of the “Enforcement Policy for Face Masks and Respirators During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff.
This face shield has undergone review in a clinical setting and is recommended when fabricated as instructed.
