Acute need for protective equipment
The rapid spread of COVID-19 is leading to an increased need for protective equipment for medical personnel.
Since several weeks now, some hospitals, among others, have not been able to provide the necessary protective shields ("faceshields") in sufficient quantities.
The acute bottleneck is expected to worsen as initiatives for the procurement of face shields have been launched by major corporations worldwide (e.g. in the USA by using Apple's supply chains).
Initiative for product development and production
With the involvement of doctors from several hospitals and experts for hospital hygiene (Prim. Dr. med. Klaus Vander), prototypes for Faceshields were developed at the Institute for Innovation and Industrial Management of the Graz University of Technology and successfully tested in hospitals.
Together with the purchasing department of the KAGes and the head of the intensive care unit of anaesthesiology at the LKH Graz, Prof. DDr. Metznitz, requirements for quantities and design of the required protective equipment were collected.
The production of a pilot series of up to 10,000 pieces using the 3D printing process is being carried out at Graz University of Technology. An initial delivery of 1,000 units was handed over to the KAGes on 7 April and a changeover to more efficient production processes (plastic injection moulding) to increase the number of units is underway together with PAYER Medical GmbH.
The developed protective shield was successfully tested in medical applications. The pilot series manufactured at Graz University of Technology was released for non-surgical use on 31.03.2020 by Prim.Dr.med. Klaus Vander.
Product data sheet | Print File* | 3D - Print Settings |
*optimized for 0,4mm, 0,5mm, 0,6mm nozzle
If link does not work, right click and save as
The open source version of the TUGraz_FaceShield available for download
is intended for private use, the necessary transparent foils in A4 format,
as well as the required tape material is to be organized independently.
Licences |
TUGraz_FaceShield_V1.0_04, TUGraz_FaceShield_V1.0_05, TUGRAZ_FaceShield_V1.0_06
by IIM are licensed under the
Creative Commons - Attribution - Non Commercial -
No Derivatives license.