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Maintaining Powered Air-Purifying Respirator (Papr) Supply Through Repair Of Damaged Hose Units By 3d Printing, Dante Varotsis, Robert Ries, Michelle Ho, Kathryn Linder, Jordan Kurzum, Robert Pugliese, Pharmd, Bon Ku, Md, Mpp, Matt Fields, Md, Morgan Hutchinson, Md

Health Equity and Quality Improvement (HEQI) Summit

What’s the Problem?

• Powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) are a type of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that serves an essential line of defense against the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne pathogens.
• Demand for PAPRs are at a premium during a time where supply chains have been disrupted.
• The hose component of the 3M™ Air-Mate™ PAPR has a fragile interface with the hood, leading to damage and rendering the PAPR unit unsafe for continued use.
• PAPR units are on backorder, as are their components.
• Given the acute need for functional PAPRs other approaches for repair were explored.

Repairing A Damaged Powered Air-Purifying Respirator (Papr) Battery Component Component With 3-D Printing, Robert Ries, Dante Varotsis, Michelle Ho, Kathryn Linder, Jordan Kurzum, Bon Ku, Md, Mpp, Matt Fields, Md, Robert Pugliese, Pharmd, Morgan Hutchinson, Md

Health Equity and Quality Improvement (HEQI) Summit

• A team from the Thomas Jefferson University Health Design Lab worked with local engineers at FKB to create a 3-D replacement model for the faulty component
• A new component was designed to function with existing battery components
• The new component was created using a desktop fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3-D printer with polylactic acid (PLA) filament