Jalandhar / 9 September / New Super Bharat News
To safeguard Corona warriors protecting Covid-19 patients, Dr. BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar has invented a reusable personal protective kit (PPE) – ‘Marshall’.
Designed as a single piece full body cover from head to toe, it is made with breathable and washable fabric. This full body PPE cover has proper ventilation without direct exposure to viral particles suspended in environment (air, water, soil). Unlike the kits presently available in the market, N95/N99 mask with ear loops and goggles or face shield are pre-installed as part of the kit. Specially designed cotton gloves joined with the kit not only absorbs sanitizer for long term use, it also makes it easier for the user to do other work.
The full PPE kit is chained from back side while the front side which is exposed mainly to infected person is completely covered. Dr. Mahesh Kumar Sah, Assistant Professor from Dept. of Biotechnology in the institute has developed this kit in coordination with Professor Arvind Bhardwaj from Department of Industrial and Production Engineering and Professor Lalit K. Awasthi, Director, NIT. Dr Mahesh said that the design of the kit has been presented to Innovation and Incubation Centre, Government of Punjab.
(Dr. Mahesh Kumar Sah, Asst. Professor from Dept. of Biotechnology, NIT Jalandhar)
Besides a full body cover, two separate covers ‘Body-Torso PPE Cover’ and ‘Head mask PPE’ have also been developed for providing different level of protection and ease of use to those who need to get protected. Even regular travellers and other than medical professionals and policemen can comfortably make use of these covers.
Director, NIT, Dr Awasthi said that their aim was to have a complete, comfortable and easy to use PPE kit which can take care of all the shortcomings the commonly used commercially available kits have. He said the cover has been developed with low manufacturing cost of Rs. 500/ for common application (Level-1) and can be replaced with standard materials for specific applications (Level 2-4). Patent has been filed and the inventor with possible collaboration is working on improving the quality of design and product for wider applications.