Interview with Nathaniel Nance on Holistic Solution for COVID

Armbrust American will Supply Millions of Masks to Texas School Teachers

Precise Tooling has Mobile Transparent Partition for Schools

H&V has New Material for Medical Gowns

PPE is Again in Short Supply in the U.S

Carrier Now has a 1500 CFM Room Purifier for Schools

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Interview with Nathaniel Nance on Holistic Solution for COVID

Nathaniel Nance is now AAF Flanders Vice President of Global R&D-HVAC Nathaniel has been with AAF Flanders since 2008. Prior to joining AAF Flanders, he held various positions in media manufacturing companies, including product engineering, process engineering, and research and development for microglass and synthetic media. Nathaniel holds a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University.

 

Nathaniel was interviewed by Bob McIlvaine and Ross Ardell from the McIlvaine Company.  Nathaniel espouses a holistic concept which encourages collaboration among filtration experts, universities, HVAC companies, contractors, regulators and local governments to mitigate COVID and improve the air we breathe. He points out that a glass of dirty air and a glass of clean air look the same. What we do not see are the range of pollutants which exist. COVID adds to the challenge. There are good, better and best filter options at every efficiency level. The best have the lowest energy consumption and longest life. Membranes have efficiency and strength advantages over micro fiber glass. He calls for a city wide filtration concept to harness the local winds. As part of Daikin, the largest air conditioning company in the world, AAF Flanders is in a unique position to provide holistic answers.

The early part of discussion focused on comments Nathaniel made in an IFN article.  Nathaniel states that the key to any drivers of change in this industry should be a mindset change of the entire industry. The industry is currently disjointed between filtration experts, universities, HVAC companies, contractors, regulators and local governments. The future of filtration that will evolve from this is these groups coming together to design, develop, and deliver real solutions.

Bob McIlvaine added to this analysis by commenting that it is time for the filter and HVAC companies to take the lead. The universities and regulators have done their best but without the knowledge about fine particles and air flow some highly questionable recommendations on masks and partitions are being offered.

Nathaniel says the entire world is coming together in this time of crisis to develop innovative solutions in the face of critical shortages of crucial materials from facemasks to gowns to gloves. These are collaborative filtration solutions for focused areas, and this will be expanded to a broader scope of the filtration world. The what, how, when, and why of what makes a filter a filter will be reevaluated. Nathaniel points out that Daikin is uniquely capable as the world’s largest air conditioning company as well as with its leading position in HVAC, industrial and cleanroom air filtration.

Nathaniel believes these changes to collaborations will lead to broader focused solutions. This will be everything from passive and on-demand filtration in hospitals and commercial buildings, where levels of filtration are selected and monitored in real time, to better filtration in the home for split systems, AHUs (Air Handling Units), and room air cleaners. All these will be held to a standard that confirms performance of the system for the application, not just a component-level qualification. This will require technology development to see the problem and monitor the solution from sensors and filter design changes, to system revamps that allow the consumer to select the level of filtration desired or required.

The indication of this change will be the increased reliance and public agreement on age old principles sorely forgotten and cast aside, such as proper gasketing to seal the system, solution by dilution, charged principles vs. mechanical filtration, and what is the true performance in the real system. The products that will come from this exercise will range from simple to complex, but what is clear is the future is bright for the filtration industry.

For instance, a system that has technology integration to the point where the fans, humidity, UV, recirculation, and filters are adjusted to a virus capture mode where maximum airflow and filtration is reached until biosensors within the system determine the predetermined air quality is reached. Filters that can change performance on demand to provide energy savings in clean environments and critical protection. Diagrams of fan filter units above a cashier and checkout line were displayed as Nathaniel emphasized the importance of controlled air flow and filtration.

AAF has good, better, and best filters for each efficiency range. The best have the lowest energy and longest life. Gas phase filters use activated carbon or potassium permanganate. AAF believes in barrier filtration and does not offer ionizers.

A whole connected city filtration system can work in unison to push the virus out of the city or prevent the contaminant from even entering the area. Nathaniel points to the potential of directing the air flow through a city rather than relying on whatever turbulence and other conditions occur without planning and design. The details on an ambient air purifier to be located at traffic intersections was briefly reviewed

“The hope of the industry says Nathaniel is that the world comes through this crisis with a better understanding of how using filtration can protect and enhance the lives of the global population. We as an industry raise the bar and continue to exceed the expectations of the world’s customers to breathe clean air.”

To view this YouTube recording click here: https://youtu.be/3nqNhOwBHuQ

Armbrust American will Supply Millions of Masks to Texas School Teachers

Armbrust American scored a big win in its mission to address PPE shortages with quality, American-made masks with the announcement that it has signed a contract to supply millions of masks to Texas's more than 320,000 public school teachers.

Armbrust American's Austin-TX area medical mask production facility

The lack of domestic manufacturing has forced essential organizations like public schools to rely on a global supply chain for PPE at much higher costs during a time of unprecedented demand. And with the vast majority of surgical masks being manufactured out of China, state governments have the added burden of determining if those masks meet adequate quality and safety standards. Combined with recent reports that non-medical masks from China are being repackaged and sent to essential workers, having trusted American-made PPE has never been more important.

"It's taken almost two months, but I'm happy to share that our masks have passed everything needed for ASTM Type-II certification with bacterial and particulate filtration at 99%," said Armbrust American founder and CEO Lloyd Armbrust. "Our mission is to supply our fellow citizens with superior quality equipment, made right here in Texas. No one should have to worry if the mask they're wearing will keep them safe, especially the people doing the important work of educating our children."

Armbrust American's Austin factory is currently ramping to produce 1.2 million masks per day, with plans to scale production to billions annually if needed. The company represents an important first step in returning strategic manufacturing to the U.S., thus ensuring that American heroes on the front lines have proper defenses needed during this pandemic and beyond.

Nelson Laboratories, LLC performed several procedures to evaluate how Armbrust's surgical face masks would stand up against fluid penetration, bacterial filtration, particle filtration, flammability, and sensitivity. All test method acceptance criteria were met, and testing was performed in compliance with the FDA's Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) regulations. 


Precise Tooling has Mobile Transparent Partition for Schools

Specialty manufacturer Precise Tooling Solutions has introduced ViralBarrier, an effective and affordable mobile barrier designed to prevent transmission of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. 

ViralBarrier is adaptable to virtually any school setting from college through kindergarten. Designed with input from seasoned instructors, it creates safe social distancing whether standing, sitting in a chair or even sitting on the floor. And, it's easily sanitized with a non-abrasive disinfecting agent. 

ViralBarrier was designed with input from instructors. It's durable, easy to maneuver and very affordable.

ViralBarrier is adaptable to any school setting - in the classroom, learning labs, library, administrative areas, and cafeteria. It creates safe social distance whether standing, sitting in a chair or sitting on the floor.

"We are proud to bring this unique ViralBarrier to schools so they can get back to doing what they do best, which is educating our next generation of leaders," said Don Dumoulin, CEO / Owner. "We hope to help keep instructors, students and staff healthy as schools reopen in a few weeks."

Benefits include:  

• Fully mobile, easy to move with one hand
• Shatterproof polycarbonate is clear as polished glass  
• Hooded swivel-casters with brakes for easy repositioning 
• Optional mid-level shelf for digital devices and instructional aids
• Fully assembled when delivered – no tools or fasteners required

Privately held Precise Tooling currently employs 40+ craftsmen at its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility outside Columbus, IN. 

H&V has New Material for Medical Gowns

Looking to help meet the critical need for Personal Protective Equipment for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, global manufacturer Hollingsworth & Vose has, on a rapidly accelerated timeline, developed a new material for non-surgical medical gowns.

Using standard construction methods, this new material can be converted into medical gowns for healthcare workers in hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities. The material meets stringent testing including the AATCC 42 impact penetration and AATCC 127 hydrostatic pressure tests. Its origin stems from a COVID-19 related task force that H&V convened at the start of the pandemic to see how the company could expand production and help meet the shortage of medical grade PPE. H&V works across industries, including in medical, automotive, energy, power generation, and air quality.

“H&V had already been manufacturing critical materials used in the fight against COVID-19, including filtration media for N95 respirators, ventilator filtration media and the materials used in surgical hoods, so it made sense for us to see how else we might be able to meet the needs of healthcare workers on the frontlines,” Jeff Crane, Segment Leader at H&V. 

“Accelerating our research and development process, partnering with companies that provide third party testing and pulling expertise from different industries we serve allowed us to quickly develop this new material in just a matter of weeks and begin supplying it to gown manufacturers that are facing shortages due to the pandemic,” added Crane.   

Customers for the new material include a mix of existing H&V customers as well as new customers who are helping to meet demand for medical gowns. H&V is manufacturing the material entirely from its manufacturing facility in Easton, New York.  

“We will continue putting our expertise in the manufacturing of advanced materials to use for a wide range of applications while also doing everything we can to help those who are out there in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and elsewhere taking care of others,” commented  Crane.  

As a global manufacturer of advanced materials for filtration and battery separator materials, H&V provides products that are critical to responding to the COVID-19 (the coronavirus) emergency.  

H&V is at the front end of the supply chain for several critical healthcare related materials, including filtration media for N95 respirators, ventilator filtration media, materials used in the production of medical gowns & surgical hoods, and consumables for COVID-19 test systems.  H&V also supplies products into other air filtration applications in medical, industrial, residential and transportation settings.  H&V battery separator materials are being used in batteries which support life-critical medical equipment and first responder vehicles, as well as emergency backup power for telecommunications, hospitals and data center infrastructure. This power is critical for hospitals, governments, and financial institutions.

The company has manufacturing capabilities around the world.  It has manufacturing facilities in China and a Chinese website. H&V will exhibit at the Filtration & Separation Expo, Shanghai, China, December 9, 2020 - December 11, 2020.  McIlvaine visited their stand at this show in 2004 when the plant in Suzhou China had just been completed. This could be one of the first international filtration shows to take place since FILTXPO in Chicago in January.  On the other hand will China give permission for U.S. citizens to participate in this show?

In 2011 H&V set up a global technology center in China. It provides advanced global testing and development of fibrous media and elements used within filtration, separation, battery separator and other industrial specialty markets. “Setting up a production, R&D, and test center in Suzhou is a commitment to our market development strategy in China and the Asia Pacific region,” said Hollingsworth & Vose CEO Val Hollingsworth.

Because of its global reach and level of participation in products to battle COVID the company can be a leader in a proactive collaboration as suggested by the McIlvaine Company.

 Here are articles on H&V which can be accessed in previous Alerts 

McIlvaine Coronavirus Market Alert

... PM Develops Technology to Help Meltblown Fabrics Maintain Electrical Charge Midwest Textiles, Hollingsworth & Vose Partner to Develop Homemade Facemask Kit Bondex Ramps up Production of Material for PPE & ...

Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 22  -  18 May 2020  -  URL: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/coronavirus/subscriber/Alerts/2020-05-18/Alert_202005018.html

McIlvaine Coronavirus Market Alert

... Near Zero Airplanes are Relatively Safe with the Following Guidelines Midwest Textiles, Hollingsworth & Vose Partner to Develop Homemade Facemask Kit Bondex Ramps up Production of Material for PPE & ...

Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 16  -  10 Jun 2020  -  URL: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/coronavirus/subscriber/Alerts/2020-06-10/Alert_20200610.html

McIlvaine Coronavirus Market Alert

... Paul Marold, president of Lydall, and Val Hollingsworth, CEO of Hollingsworth & Vose. Bob McIlvaine was also a speaker. Details are found at https:/ ...

Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 6  -  12 May 2020  -  URL: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/coronavirus/subscriber/Alerts/2020-05-06/Alert_20200506.html

McIlvaine Coronavirus Market Alert

... isolation gowns. H&V Continues to Expand Capacity to Mitigate COVID Hollingsworth & Vose, has shifted its focus beyond its traditional markets like medical, automotive and filtration ...

Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 6  -  25 Jun 2020  -  URL: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/coronavirus/subscriber/Alerts/2020-06-24/Alert_20200624.html

McIlvaine Coronavirus Market Alert

... DOD The Department of Defense has signed a $2.2 million contract with Hollingsworth and Vose to produce 27.5 million N95 ventilator filters and 3.1 million N95 respirators per month starting ...

Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 5  -  1 Jul 2020  -  URL: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/coronavirus/subscriber/Alerts/2020-06-30/Alert_20200630.html

PPE is Again in Short Supply in the U.S

Unlike the crisis that caught a handful of big city hospitals off guard in March and April, the soaring demand for protective gear is now affecting a broad range of medical facilities across the country, a problem public health experts and major medical associations say could have been avoided if the federal government had embraced a more aggressive approach toward procuring and distributing critical supplies in the early days of the pandemic.

Doctors at Memorial City Medical Center in Houston who treat Covid-19 patients have been told to reuse single-use N95 respirator masks for up to 15 days before throwing them out. The country’s largest organization of registered nurses found in a survey of its members in late June that 85 percent had been forced to reuse disposable N95 masks while treating coronavirus patients. In Florida, some hospitals are handing out only loose fitting surgical masks to workers treating newly admitted patients who may be asymptomatic carriers.

The inability to find personal protective equipment, known as P.P.E., is starting to impede other critical areas of medicine too. Neurologists, cardiologists and cancer specialists around the country have been unable to reopen their offices in recent weeks, leaving many patients without care, according to the American Medical Association and other doctor groups.

The crisis has reinvigorated calls for President Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act and order American manufacturers to step in and help. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., said this week that he would use that law to boost domestic protection of medical gear if elected.

 

Carrier Now has a 1500 CFM Room Purifier for Schools

As schools make plans and take precautions for reopening in the fall, Carrier today announced the launch of its OptiClean™ 1500-cfm Dual-Mode Air Scrubber & Negative Air Machine, ideal for helping to maintain clean and healthy indoor air quality in classrooms, cafeterias, libraries, gymnasiums, restrooms and more. The new unit joins the existing OptiClean 500-cfm unit, which was launched in April to help create infectious isolation rooms in hospitals treating COVID-19 patients and is now used in hospitals and dental offices and is ideally suited for individual classroom use. The new model draws air from inside larger spaces, removes many contaminants and discharges cleaner, filtered air. Carrier is a part of Carrier Global Corporation, a leading global provider of innovative heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC), refrigeration, fire, security and building automation technologies.

The Carrier OptiClean unit draws air from inside a classroom, removing many contaminants and discharging filtered air. One 500-cfm unit can adequately clean the air in an average-sized classroom.

The Carrier OptiClean air scrubber is ideal for maintaining clean and healthy indoor air quality in K-12 schools. The 1500-cfm unit is perfect for larger spaces including libraries, gyms or cafeterias.

"Schools and school districts around the country are making very difficult decisions about how to adequately prepare to reopen in the fall while keeping their students and teachers safe," said Chris Nelson, Carrier's HVAC President. "Our new OptiClean technology will provide one piece of the puzzle to help protect the health of students and teachers when they return to school. The new units can be plugged into a standard wall outlet in any room where students and teachers congregate during the school day to help reduce contaminants like the coronavirus, improve indoor air quality, and slow the spread of disease."

Like the 500-cfm unit, the new OptiClean 1500-cfm unit plugs into a standard wall outlet and uses a greater than 99.97% efficient, long-life HEPA filter to significantly reduce the presence of coronavirus and other contaminants in the air. OptiClean units exceed the ASHRAE^® school reopening recommendation* that portable electric HEPA machines be introduced into each classroom and provide a minimum of two air changes per hour.

The Carrier OptiClean units are portable, taking only about three-square feet of floor space when oriented vertically, and can also be operated horizontally, allowing for convenient, unobstructed placement in classrooms, cafeterias, libraries or gymnasiums. One 500-cfm unit can adequately clean the air in an average-sized classroom; the new 1500-cfm unit is designed for larger spaces. In both cases, multiple units can be used for more expansive spaces.

OptiClean is one of a number of solutions offered through Carrier's Healthy Buildings Program that can aid school districts in enhancing indoor air quality. Other product features and upgrades include filters with high MERV ratings; UV lights; Agion^® anti-microbial coating, which can be applied to protect against bacterial growth; economizers; and a Humidi-MiZer^® dehumidification system.