Mumbai-based engineering student develops cool PPE kits for corona warriors

Mumbai,India, May 23. Wearing PPE for continuous 10 to 12 hours for doctors and healthcare workers is not an easy task, even as it offers protection to them in their battle against the raging Covid-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers say long hours in the PPE suits make breathing difficult, get them drenched in sweat and make their life hell during the stifling summer.

Now all this will become a matter of the past as an engineering student from K J Somaiya College of Engineering in Mumbai has developed a technology which makes the PPE suits less hot and humid, thereby making their wearing less cumbersome and painful for healthcare workers.

Named as Cov-Tech, a compact and frugal innovation system, it facilitates ventilation for PPE kits, bringing much-needed relief for healthcare workers on the frontlines of the Covid-19 battle.

“Cov-Tech ventilation system is like you are sitting under the fan even while you are inside the PPE suit. It takes the surrounding air, filters it and pushes it into the PPE suit. Normally, due to lack of ventilation, it is hot and humid within the PPE suit; our solution offers a way out of this uncomfortable experience, by creating a steady air flow inside,” innovator Nihaal Singh Adarsh, developer of the cool PPE kit was quoted the Press Information Bureau as saying.

“The design of the ventilation system ensures a complete air seal from the PPE kit. It provides a breeze of fresh air to the user in a gap of just 100 seconds,” the second year student of the engineering college said.

Cov-Tech ventilation system currently costs Rs 5,499 per piece in the market, but as its production scales up in days to come, there is a plan to further reduce its cost.