Problem:

As a mechanical engineer with previous journey of work in different industries of which air pollution is a common factor that necessitates the protection of the workers respiratory tract, we used to wear face masks that I always believed not efficient enough to prevent dust from entering the lungs through the nose. This is because the mask cannot fit tightly on the nose and face curvatures, especially with the continuous movements of the mouth during speech, ...

The lack of protection also applies for the daily airborne dust, smoke, viruses ... etc. Also, a lot of people don't accept the change in their appearance with the mask. So, a lot of people don’t use it.

Solution:

Sometimes, I used to put a slightly wet piece of cotton in my nose in case of heavy dust generated from some machines. I wondered why there is no filter that can be fitted in the nostril 'nose cavity' when anybody gets out from home. The filter remains fitted in the nose until returning back home at the end of day.

Recently, I made a design for a nasal filter made from 'FDA approved silicone'. The silicone part is molded with the shape of the nostril. It will have two cavities in which a filter element is changed daily, while the silicone part remains unchanged. Just, it will need to be disinfected before installing a change filter element. The silicone part will be as smooth and flexible as the nipple of the baby feeder to achieve two benefits (1- to flex inside the nose and takes the shape of the nostril to make a perfect sealing. 2- to achieve the highest degree of comfort for the user).

The nasal filter will be almost hidden. Just a transparent silicone curved part will barely be seen around the nasal septum ' nasal barrier' to connect the two filter cavities together and will allow the user to pull it to remove the filter from the nose.

The filter element will be made from a flexible multi-layer nano-fiber material ‘Spunbond/Meltblown/Spunbond’. It will be fitted in a corrugated shape inside a chamber. The corrugated shape will increase the surface area to increase the air flow to avoid the feeling of user discomfort from the lack of oxygen and fatigue due to the extra pressure drop through the filter.