Engineers find unique uses for instant pots during Covid-19

Masks are increasingly seen as the deciding factor Against the Covid-19 pandemic. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Said A pandemic shows that it can end in 4 to 8 weeks in the United States. But it’s not just wearing a mask. You also need to clean them.

Like any other clothing, the mask should be cleaned regularly. Scientists believe that bacteria and pathogens can persist on masks for 8-12 hours. Medical groups such as the American Gastroenterological Endoscopy Surgeon Association are also Provide best practices Decontamination of the mask when insufficient.

Now, a new study suggests cleaning methods may be found in your kitchen in the form of instant pots or rice cookers.

Ah Investigation University of Illinois published last month in journal Environmental Science and Technology Letter Shows that one cooking cycle in the electric cooker and 50 minutes of dry heat can completely and effectively decontaminate the N95 respirator.

Vishal VermaIn a press release, an assistant professor at Urbana Champaign, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, electric rice cookers may offer easy solutions at more levels than are currently available.

“There are many different ways to sterilize something, but most of them destroy the filtration or conformity of N95 masks. Any hygiene method requires decontamination of all surfaces of the mask, Maintaining filtration efficiency and conformity is just as important. Do not put the mask on the wearer’s face or it will not provide adequate protection.”

Electric rice cooker Check all check boxes..

Researchers were drawn to dry heat in search of a convenient solution to the N95 mask cleaning problem. Given the high demand for masks and the potential for confusion in the hospital where shortages could occur, they wanted a special preparation and chemical-free cleaning system. With the added benefit of quick and easy access.

Verma and colleague Thanh “Helen” Nguyen decided that the electric cooker could check all the boxes. Preliminary tests confirmed their suspicions. The electric cooker was able to decontaminate the masks on both sides from four viruses, including one type of coronavirus. It was able to do it with a higher efficiency than UV light.

Later, more extensive testing was done with equally positive results.

“We specifically built a chamber in an aerosol test lab to study the filtration of the N95 ventilator and measure the particles that pass through it. The ventilator maintains a filtration capacity of over 95%, while maintaining a fit while maintaining electrical compatibility. You can still see the wearer’s face after 20 cycles of decontamination in the cooker,” says Verma.

Similar to using an electric rice cooker, there is one rule and regulation for mask decontamination. Dry heat is very important. There is no water in the pot. Keep the pot at a constant temperature of 100 degrees Celsius for 50 minutes and place a small towel on the bottom of the pot to prevent the mask from interacting with the highly heating element of the pot.

But with these regulations in place, Verma and Ngyuen found that electric cookers scattered across American kitchens could find new uses in hospitals full of Covid-19 patients, helping people at home to put on masks as much as possible. He says it can help keep you clean.

Overview: Pandemics such as Covid-19 could suddenly deplete the global supply of ventilators, forcing healthcare providers to reuse them. This study systematically evaluated dry heat treatment as a viable option to safely decontaminate N95 masks (1860, 3M) prior to reuse. The heat of drying produced by an electric cooker (100°C, 5% relative humidity, 50 minutes) causes the Tulane virus (TV, >5.2-log)_Ten Decrease), rotavirus (RV,> 6.6-log_Ten Decrease), Adenovirus (AdV,> 4.0-log_Ten Decrease), and infectious gastroenteritis virus (TGEV,> 4.7-log)_Ten Reduction). Twenty cycles of 50 minutes of dry heat treatment did not compromise the integrity of the mask (determined based on particle filtration efficiency and quantitative suitability tests). Based on these results, dry heat decontamination produced by electric rice cookers (rice cookers, instant pots, ovens, etc.) is an effective and accessible decontamination method for safe reuse of N95 masks. There is a possibility. It is recommended to measure the temperature during decontamination so that the mask temperature can be maintained at 100 °C for 50 minutes.