Development of a dust respirator by improving the half mask frame design

Abstract

Protective efficiency of filtering dust respirators depends on the properties of filter materials from which filters are made and the structure of a half mask frame, which influences how tightly the respirator fits the face. The conducted studies on the “Lepestok 40” dust respirator re-vealed a large air leakage through the gaps occurring along the obturation strip. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to develop a dust respirator to provide high level of protection and usability by improving the half mask frame design. A scheme for designing a dust respirator: analysis of oper-ating conditions for the dust respirator; facial anthropometric measurements of potential users; designing a 3D model of half mask frame; laboratory testing of the protective properties of the product. A distinctive feature of this approach is considering the facial anthropometric dimensions of employees of a particular enterprise, standard sizes formation of 3D facial models, which is the basis for designing a half mask frame for dust respirator. A new half mask frame design for dust respirator with a variable geometry of fitting to the face surface has been developed, due to special attachment points that allow changing its size according to the anthropometric dimensions of user’s face.