Designing for Heroes: The Puri Flow V1.0 Success Story

Covid-19, a viral outbreak of this nature and scale, has created an unprecedented situation for mankind worldwide. Doctors, paramedics, health officials, and others battling this pandemic have all put their lives at risk for the well-being of the population. In the process, these warriors must stay zipped up in non-porous personal protective gears for long durations, making them prone to develop skin rashes, dehydration, and blackouts.

The team at Abslon Engineering manifested the resolve to address this infuriating discomfort for the warriors and ventured to produce a respirator that is portable and easy to handle. They were looking for an apt partner capable of reading their conceptual design, reviewing it for manufacturing, and quickly producing parts for prototypes. After thorough evaluation of a few such organizations, they signed up with Altem Technologies Pvt. Ltd., majorly into Stratasys 3D Printers sales and 3D Printing services in Bangalore, housed with a pertinent team to address their requirement.

Puri flow V1.0, a Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR), was conceived by Abslon, which is designed to provide continuous filtered air within a protective hood through a battery-powered airflow system. It was tested for uninterrupted delivery of air, making it easy to breathe while preventing fogging and discomfort. PAPR uses a high-efficiency replaceable filter cartridge that can filter up to 99.99% of airborne particles.

Following a few virtual validations, the next objective was to produce one such equipment for conceptualization, assembly, and testing by selecting the right 3D Printing technology, which is accurate and cost-effective. The team at Altem judiciously tweaked the designs for additive manufacturing and was able to quickly produce 3D Printer models and assemble them, meeting the schedules for further processes. The Prototype produced using Stratasys FDM technology was suitable for completing the functional mockups, and accordingly, the designs were modified with the help of the Altem team.

This challenge excited both the Design and 3D printing applications team at Abslon, as they were accustomed to designing for functionality, but this challenge required them to design for visual appeal and aesthetics. So, they decided to take up the challenge and put on their thinking caps.

An extremely critical phase of this journey was the testing of this equipment and getting it certified by the appropriate authorities. The time had come to decide on the 3D Printing materials appropriate for this, and the Altem team exhibited a good understanding of the materials to be used and the manufacturing process, which eased out the eradication of particulation and other possible issues that might have popped up and delayed the process. Their team patiently collaborated and addressed a few teething issues before coming out with the final product.