The doctor's father made a "young boy anti haze mask"
"today a Tai'an reader, all the way to Tsinghua to find me. His three year old child has asthma, and a child wearing a N95 mask (one of the 9 respirators certified by the National Institute for occupational safety and health) can obviously relieve symptoms, but the size of the existing N95 mask is unsuitable. When we heard that we were making a child haze mask, he immediately left Shandong for Beijing, hoping to buy a mask from me. I have the same pain, too. "
Hou Yan Lin and his "child haze prevention mask" prototype.
adult masks are not fit even after modification.
3D prints the mold for child haze mask.
this is Hou Yanlin. To make a suitable haze mask for the 3 year old daughter, Hou Yan Lin of Tsinghua post doc plans to do it himself and gets a response from a group of "PhD dad" with the same annoyance. The more than 30 doctoral fathers from different disciplines formed a team that carefully investigated the possibilities of technical implementation, and designed an innovative scheme to resist the haze and maintain the price that the general public could bear.
heard this news, many foreign parents came to Tsinghua to find Hou Yanlin "buy masks".
Hou Yanlin said the production process of the child's fog and haze mask is not only using advanced technology such as 3D printing, three-dimensional scanning, but also the use of food grade silicone material and the latest developed filter core in the United States.
fastest in May this year, children will be able to use this mask.
daughter can't buy a mask to make dad become a "mask expert"
2013, only Taobao sold hundreds of millions of dollars of fog and haze mask, but there are few N95 mask for children under four years old.
Hou Yanlin, a postdoctoral researcher at the Tsinghua University, who was a major in media economics, has now become an expert in making masks for children, because "in order to allow her daughter to wear a suitable haze mask."
"every time I go to fog and haze, my daughter will have a runny nose. It's quite serious." Hou Yanlin said that his daughter is 3 years old. Children always want to go out to play, but when they think of the weather in Beijing, they do not want their children to go out.
"I searched the Internet, but I didn't find a mask suitable for young children." Hou Yanlin said, "most of them are obviously too large, not suitable for children's faces, and wear air leakage around them. A few of the brand name N95 respirators purchased by friends from overseas are not suitable for children aged three.
Hou Yanlin said that in 2013 only Taobao had sold hundreds of millions of dollars in fog and haze mask, but there were few N95 masks for children under four. If parents are misled, allowing their children to wear unqualified masks to increase outdoor activities will increase the injury.
"PhD dad" group has three or four ten people for making child masks, with three or four ten people throughout the team. There are materials science, medical, design, psychology, and most of them have a PhD cap.
buying a suitable child mask has become a common worry for parents. Can you make it yourself? Last November, Hou Yanlin sent this idea to WeChat's circle of friends.
Hou Yanlin said, at the very beginning, it was just about a few friends to raise money to make masks, but with the increasing number of volunteers and concerns, the action of making masks for their own children became a public service.
"our entire team has more than three or four people, from all professions, materials science, medicine, design, psychology, because my social circle is mainly in Colleges and universities, most of these friends have a PhD cap." Hou Yanlin said, everyone is a volunteer, in the process of making masks, everyone takes the initiative to play their professional expertise.
for example, Dr. Liu Shuming, deputy director of the maxillofacial surgery, Peking University Stomatological Hospital, consulted a lot of medical literature, and has done a lot of academic support for the team. Dr. Jing Jing of Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University, as a fashion design expert, has made a lot of professional advice on fabric and manufacturing technology.
after continuous discussion by the team, a consensus has been formed on the production of children's masks, that is, to take full consideration of the physiological and psychological characteristics of children and to have thoughtful and innovative design. "Children's mask is not a small mask for adults."
template 3D print development to wear the most comfortable mask
they collect children's facial features on the Internet, and try every 3D mask model to develop the most comfortable masks for children.
"after the drawing design is completed, we start making templates." Hou Yanlin said the team came up with the idea of making templates using 3D printing. "Just now, a company founded by Dr. Guo Ge, a Tsinghua alumni, is the first Chinese company to export domestic 3D printers to overseas companies." After listening to the project,
Guo Ge volunteered to provide technical support for 3D printing free of charge. Hou Yanlin said that because of the intervention of 3D technology, the development process of child masks has been greatly accelerated, and the sixth version has been improved.
in mid March, when they completed the third edition of 3D printing, they sent out a collection activity to collect children aged 1 to 6, and to scan them in three dimensions. In order to make the mask more universal, Hou Yanlin said, it was necessary to measure more data on the facial features of children, and to wear each 3D mask model on the child's face and modify it at any time in order to develop the most comfortable mask.
"we released just over two days, and thirty or forty parents offered to bring their children over." We hope to collect more than 500 samples, so that we can have a wide range of representativeness. Hou Yanlin even imagined that if the sample was collected enough, the child's facial features could be made into a database, "so it could be directly on the computer to verify that the design is suitable for the child's face."
Hou Yanlin said that when the final version of the child mask is finally released, the data will be sent to the United States to complete the final flexible material 3D printing. "3D printing of flexible materials is only available overseas." Hou Yanlin said that a well-known Chinese designer in California, the United States, has indicated that the company that he contacted with the United States provided sponsorship and printed flexible and transparent templates without compensation.
food grade silica gel with the latest American filter material
children masks should meet the food grade standards. "Children are not like adults, wearing masks will stick their tongues, so we must ensure safety."
when is the foggy haze mask designed for children?
"around mid April, the manufacturer of the mask will open the silicone rubber mold for about a month or so, and it will be able to produce 10 thousand in a night." Hou Yanlin said that the first batch of products will be seen as early as May and June.
"silica gel mold" is one of the process of producing this mask, which is equivalent to the preparation of raw materials, and the unique feature of this mask is the use of food grade silicone material.
Hou Yanlin said, in the earlier discussion, there was a study on the material science of the father, the selection of children's mask to meet the food level standards, "children are not like adults, wearing a mask will extend the tongue licking, so must ensure safety."
what is the food grade silica gel like? Hou Yanlin said that it is a flexible silicone gel with the same texture as the nipple on the baby bottle.
not only that, the filter cartridge will also use the latest research and development materials in the United States. Hou Yanlin, through a friend, contacted an inventor in the United States, who had just developed a new filter material that had a filtration rate of 99.9% and higher air permeability than gauze, which meant that the child would not hold a breath after wearing a mask.
American inventors, after listening to the stories of these fathers, immediately offered to donate tens of thousands of dollars of filter cartridges.
Hou Yanlin said that the mask has only tens of grams of weight, which is similar to other existing masks, and does not increase the face burden of the child.
refusing business cooperation to allow every parent to afford
a large enterprise to make an investment of twenty million yuan to send him thirty percent shares, but because it does not meet the original intention that every parent can afford, Hou Yanlin declined
food grade plastic material, the latest American research and development filter core. How much will it be for such a "tall" mask to go public in the future?
Hou Yanlin says the pedestal of the mask is about thirty or forty dollars, one piece of the filter core, "that is to say, even if the filter is changed every day, it only needs 365 dollars."
"this is the cost of raw materials. We want to make sure that all the children in need can use this mask." Hou Yanlin said, the foreign professional mask brand of children are expensive, a best selling brand mask can only wear a few days to ask for 225 yuan, which is more than the economic capacity of many families.
Hou Yanlin said that, as of now, all input, design, research and development, 3D printing, etc. are free, if converted into cash, about a million yuan.
with the promotion of the child mask project, several large enterprises contacted Hou Yan Lin through the cooperation committee of Tsinghua University to seek business cooperation, and some even opened the condition of investing twenty million yuan to send him thirty percent shares.
"but this does not accord with the original intention that we can afford to pay for small profits but quick turnover so that every parent can afford it." Hou Yanlin said, "in the future, we may set up our own business companies to subsidize children's masks by developing the money we sell for adult masks."
"all of us have children and do this for children, just for their children, and now want to help more children." "In the Internet age," Hou Yanlin said, "we found like-minded people. To do a mask for children is what we should do as a father."
in the end of the interview, Hou Yanlin said, "we are not charitable organizations, we are just a group of helpless parents, in fact this is a kind of mutual help and self-help, that is to let the children breathe clean air. It is not successful for children to wear masks. Success is to let children safely remove their masks.