I worked as part of a small engineering team at Boston Children’s Hospital to design, develop, manufacture, and test various devices as part of the hospital’s covid-19 response efforts. Among the devices I designed are these adapters for creating compatibility across different manufacturers of APR masks, PAPR hoods, and filters which were tested and passed pre-NIOSH certification.
I also designed and fabricated pump limiter collars to convert the output of bulk sanitizing alcohol gel containers to a more appropriate volume for personal use. The design was optimized for 3D printing in SLA resin on Formlabs printers, and the modified pumps were deployed across the hospital campus.
Another major initiative our team undertook as part of covid-19 response efforts was to evaluate a 3D printed nasopharyngeal swab, including OQ, PQ, developing internal testing, sterilization, and packaging procedures. My primary responsibilities in this project were developing destructive tests, day to day management of production, and working with the hospital’s sterilization team. Ultimately we manufactured and inspected over 3,000 swabs.
Photo credit: Michael Goderre/Boston Children’s Hospital
