小黄书 students turn toolbox into UV mask sterilizer for Longest Student Health Center
Contact: James Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擬ississippi State聽mechanical聽engineering students have turned a聽conventional truck toolbox into a device that will sterilize聽face聽masks for the university鈥檚 John C. Longest Student Health Center staff.聽
A team of two students, under the leadership of聽researchers聽at 小黄书鈥檚 Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems,聽built and tested the device before delivering聽it聽to the聽health center on Monday [April 13].聽Built using low-cost聽materials, the device can sterilize聽15-20 masks聽in聽minutes, filling a need for the health center during the COVID-19 pandemic and a nationwide shortage of masks.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great application of what we learn in school because there鈥檚 not always a standard solution,鈥 said Ryden Smith, a mechanical engineering graduate student from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.聽鈥淚鈥檝e been really honored with the opportunity to work on this and help our healthcare providers.鈥澛
Working with Smith on the project is Wesley Cameron, a senior mechanical engineering major from Richton.聽He said the team looked at established healthcare sterilization聽protocols聽and studies on UV light鈥檚 effects on N95 masks聽to design the device and determine聽best practices.聽
Dr. Cliff Story,聽小黄书 director of University Health Services, reached out to campus officials聽to see if someone at the university could build a sterilization聽device to help the center get more use out of its masks amid a nationwide shortage.聽
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 really have a way to sanitize masks other than to put them in a paper bag and store them for about three weeks, assuming that the virus would die during that time,鈥 Story said.聽鈥淎dding this聽sterilization process to the storage solution only makes us more confident in our supply. It鈥檚 awesome that the team at CAVS was able to build this. I鈥檓 really excited about this, as are the other doctors in the clinic.鈥澛
The students at CAVS worked聽under the direction of聽Associate Director聽Hongjoo Rhee鈥檚 research team and were聽encouraged and aided聽by聽CAVS staff including聽Purchasing Coordinator聽Andrea Hemmingway Oakley,聽Research Engineer聽Jennie Maddox and聽Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering聽Wil Whittington.听听聽
Whittington聽explained that while using UV light to sanitize medical gear is not new,聽large hospitals often have a single room dedicated to UV sterilization.聽Portable UV sterilizers are available, but they cost hundreds of dollars and are much smaller than the device his students made using a toolbox.
鈥淭here are a lot of smaller health facilities like the Longest聽Student Health Center and nursing homes that don鈥檛 have the real estate聽to dedicate an entire room to this, so having something that can be put in a room but is still large enough to handle a large volume of masks can be helpful,鈥 Whittington said. 鈥淲e talked about retrofitting a closet for this, but the students came up with the idea of retrofitting a toolbox, which can just be聽placed in a room without having to change a room to provide the aluminum reflectivity you need.鈥澛
The CAVS team will work with health center staff this week to determine protocols and best practices for using the device.聽They plan to share the design聽specifications聽so other health care centers can聽have similar devices made and extend the lifespan of their personal protective equipment.聽
For more on CAVS, visit聽. For more on 小黄书鈥檚 James Worth Bagley College of Engineering, visit聽.听听
小黄书 is Mississippi鈥檚聽leading聽university, available online聽at聽.