Senior Design

Task: 

For our Senior Design Project, my group focused on creating better mask technology for wildfire fighters in California. We wanted a mask that would actively circulate filtered, cooled air to better help firefighters regulate their temperature. 

Function:

• A computer fan within the housing pulls air in through a Carbon filter, purifying it 

• The housing is surrounded by Thermoelectric Modules (TECs) which when powered, get extremely hot on one side and extremely cold on the other. The cold side is assembled facing the inside of the housing, cooling the filtered air

• A second fan within the housing sends the cooled, filtered air up the tube and into the actual mask

Role:

My main roles on the project were to source and test the thermoelectric modules into the design, and also design the housing. 

For the TECs, the most important thing was getting the insulation right. Without proper insulation, warm air would enter the housing the air inside would never really change in temperature. 

The main design of the housing never changed much, but it still went through numerous iterations as we tested different fan and tube sizes, different amounts of TECs at once, and as we realized certain areas needed to be reinforced with more material.  

Reflections:

Looking back at this project with all of the knowledge I have gained in the 5 years since graduating, there are a number of things I would consider doing differently that we didn't account for the first time.

• In Medford, MA, with the resources at our disposal, we had no way of replicating the conditions of an actual wildfire and testing our product. In an actual production setting, we may have better testing rigs at our disposal, or we could collaborate with local fire departments. Doing this again, I would make sure that we: 

  • Test to validate that the filter we use successfully filters out the toxins from wildfire air 

  • Find batteries that can survive the temperatures that wildfires can achieve 

  • Validate that the TECs provide enough of a temperature gradient to cool the hot wildfire air, not just air at room temperature

• With the housing, no thought was given towards Design for Manufacturing, and even then, the 3D printed resin we used may not hold up to wildfire temperatures. Much more care would be given to material selection and manufacturing processes

• More research into the "optimal" airflow a firefighter would want if our product worked perfectly, and add some sort of airflow sensor and control software that would regulate how powerfully the fans are going. 

Final Report: