A local professor and his students are helping an area company develop a “smart mask” to protect people against COVID-19.
When the pandemic hit last year, Bracebridge company 3S (Smart Safe Science) set out to create a new kind of mask. Called the ProtXair, the transparent, reusable mask includes disposable, replaceable filters designed to maximize particle filtration.
It required a lot of work and expertise, so 3S began working with people at universities, including Chris Murray, an associate professor at Lakehead in Orillia.
Murray was connected with the company through a student at Lakehead’s Thunder Bay campus who had put his studies on hold to work with a group that was collecting personal protective equipment and distributing it to health-care professionals in northern Ontario.
He has been focusing on the flow rate and breathability of the ProtXair mask, but not in a lab. He has been working from home for the past year, using items such as a garden hose and an aquarium pump to do his tests.
“It’s quite basic, but it also makes it foolproof,” Murray said. “It also allows us to get this done in a really inexpensive way.”
Some tests have shown the mask’s filters block about 95 per cent — sometimes more — of harmful particles, he added.
The ProtXair is now ready to go to market and is expected to be available to the general public soon, said Jake Thomas, director of corporate communications with 3S.
He said it’s important that it is a 100 per cent Canadian-made product, which is produced and assembled in Bracebridge.
The masks do not look like the ones most people are wearing, but Thomas hopes practicality prevails.
“They have great air flow and they’re a great fit on the face,” he said, adding he wears his mask when he goes out because he has diminished lung capacity and the disposable and cloth masks restrict his air flow.
The HEPA filters used in the ProtXair “have an extremely high flow rate so you don’t feel like you’re suffocating,” he said.
When 3S set out to develop the ProtXair, “we really wanted to build a superior mask,” Thomas said.
“The development team dug pretty deep to find shortcomings in other masks,” he said, adding flaws were found in most.
3S is still working on pricing, but the goal is to make it affordable for individuals. After all, Thomas said, masks are expected to be around for a while.
“I think we’re going to see a lot of that as the long-term implications of COVID become clear,” he said, especially on public transit. “When you’re dealing with stale air like that over and over again, there’s no way those disposable or cloth masks are going to do what you want them to do.”
Thomas praised everyone who has helped in the development of the ProtXair, including Murray.
“Chris has been our point guy on this and that relationship was of huge interest to us,” he said. “He’s extremely capable and knowledgeable.”
Murray said his role and the teamwork involved in getting to this point have been “inspiring.”
“It contributes to something that I didn’t think I’d have any way to contribute to,” he said. “It’s been empowering to be able to do something that helps people.
More information about 3S and its ProtXair mask can be found here.
