Sandia seeks patent, business partners for new N95 masks

Apr. 18—A worry throughout the pandemic — that health care workers would run out of N95 masks — could become a thing of the past.

At least, that's the hope for Sandia National Laboratories scientists, who have invented a top-shelf respirator that can be easily cleaned and reused over and over again.

The lab has filed for patent protection on a prototype of the mask. Sandia is also seeking potential manufacturing partners for the respirator, which is believed to have the same capabilities as an N95, meaning that it blocks 95% of airborne particles.

But unlike traditional N95 masks, the one designed by Sandia is made of a soft plastic that can be taken apart and cleaned after every use.

"There's no reason to indicate that it can't be used for longer than a year," said Todd Barrick, an electrical engineer who works in research and development at Sandia and who worked on the respirator project.

The new type of mask has been in development since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eric Shaner, a Sandia engineer involved with the project, said the Sandia design team got to work shortly after the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published reports in March 2020 about how a shortage of personal protective equipment was going to put health care workers around the world at risk.

"There was a large number of people who really wanted to do something," Shaner said.

Sandia received input from medical professionals while designing the mask, which went through several design iterations. The mask is made primarily from thermoplastics.

Parts of the mask can be snapped on and off, which makes it easier to clean and potentially replace parts. The filtration mechanism can also be replaced. The Sandia engineers believe the mask could be easily manufactured.

"We didn't want to make something costly or complex," Barrick said.

The mask was designed to be cleaned using autoclaving, a common sterilization method used in hospitals. The process uses heat to kill microbes.

The lab also made it a goal for the mask to be comfortable to wear for hours.