Description

This face mask was designed to be rapidly scalable and to provide a comfortable fit to the face. It has the potential to function as a stopgap face mask for medical practitioners or for public use. It has not undergone medical validation. As assembled mask consists of two mask shells with a filter sandwiched between them. N95 filter material is recommended. Elastic bands are used to secure the mask to the head and a closed cell sponge is used around the nose to add comfort. Mask shell are manufactured by vacuum forming thin (0.030”) flexible material (LDPE). The vacuum forming process can scale rapidly: A single production vacuum forming system can manufacture 1,000 mask shells in four hours at less than $0.50 per shell. Additionally, using thin, flexible materials provides the compliance for a comfortable fit to the face. Prototypes were manufactured using additively manufactured vacuum forming molds. Bill of Materials and Manufacturing Instructions are included in the supplemental documents.