The basic Prusa design was serviceable, but it took nearly 3 hours to print the headband and because of the oval-shaped holes, the polycarbonate shield needed to be cut with a CNC machine or laser-cutter. The original headband had four pins across the forehead, to which a polycarbonate shield attached via four oval-shaped holes. Prusa Printers had recently released a 3-D printed face shield design for small build-plates, which ARL used as a starting point. ARL wanted a face shield design that, given a 3-D printed headband, almost anybody could complete. They consist of a headband that wraps around the forehead, an attached, clear plastic visor that covers the face, and an elastic band that goes around the back of the head, keeping the device in place.ĪRL and Penn State have many 3-D printers that could be used to print the headbands, as do many other universities, businesses, and hobbyists. “In the back of your mind you’re thinking, every day people who need this don’t have it, lives are impacted,” shared Charlie.įace shields provide a physical barrier to droplets caused by coughing or sneezing and are an important piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) for infection prevention. Charlie felt a palpable sense of urgency, that first week or two of the pandemic. Mount Nittany Health, especially Upendra Thaker, MD, associate chief medical officer for the system and clinical officer, surgical and specialty services, Mount Nittany Physician Group quickly became a partner in the design. Tim Simpson of MASC asked Charlie Tricou, the Head of ARL’s Lifecycle Engineering Department, to develop a 3-D printed face shield to address potential need, and to buy time for local manufacturers to design, tool-up, and produce enough face shields to meet a possible surge. Penn State’s Applied Research Lab (ARL), reached out to the MASC Initiative with an offer to help. ![]() ![]() In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State formed the Manufacturing and Sterilization for COVID-19 (MASC) Initiative, “focused on designing and delivering rapidly scalable solutions and generating tangible impact,” especially within Pennsylvania. Penn State ARL engineers partner with Mount Nittany Health surgeon to rapidly design PPE
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