Technological Scenario for Masks in Patent Database During Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Since January 2020, the World Health Organization announces COVID-19 outbreak a case of public health emergency of international interest, and declaring it a pandemic on March. Due to the high transmission of this disease, rate precautions have been implemented, such as the use of masks by the population, personal protective equipment (PPE), and safety protocols, mainly to health workers. Thus, we performed a patent review to evaluate the current patents related to the protective mask. The review was carried out in the patent database in the period of May 2019 to May 2020. After the process of screening and eligibility, 563 patents were selected for our analysis according to the aim of the study which used masks such as a PPE against dust particles and pathogens, mostly when it is about airborne transmission, such as viruses and bacteria. Here, an overview of the main materials used in the mask manufacturing and their efficiency was described. The results of the review showed that most of the masks used cotton, nylon, silver fiber fabrics, among others as fabrics to develop the masks. It also makes an analysis of masks composed of nanotechnology which provide high filtration efficiency. Moreover, the review also brought possibilities of masking the population, which already have been done in countries such as China and Korea and ways of sterilization for reuse of PPE during COVID-19 outbreak. Thus, this review can further researchers in the developing of masks to decrease the spread of a pandemic disease.

Innovate and Stockpile: Respiratory Protection for Essential Workers in a Catastrophic Pandemic

“…Financial incentives can spur innovation, but currently there is limited monetary incentive to optimize for highly effective RPE. COVID-19 prompted many innovative ideas for respirators and masks in the areas of style and practicality, 22 but none of them so far have been adopted widely. 23 In the early stages of an outbreak event, competitions such as the Mask Innovation Challenge can crowdsource new ideas.…”

Nanotechnology Transition Roadmap toward Multifunctional Stimuli-Responsive Face Masks

“…The N95 (Figure , section 1995) is probably the most well-known and commonly used respirator. Its filtering efficiency is 94% for viruses and almost 100% for bacteria . The technology behind the N95 filtering efficiency was conceived in 1992 and patented by Prof. Peter Tsai three years later.…”

“…Its filtering efficiency is 94% for viruses and almost 100% for bacteria. 44 The technology behind the N95 filtering efficiency was conceived in 1992 and patented by Prof. Peter Tsai three years later. The trapping of hazardous substances, including dust, bacteria, and viruses, relies on the electrostatic attraction promoted by positive and negative charges inherent in the N95 material.…”

Speech Impaired by Half Masks Used for the Respiratory Tract Protection

“…The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic spurred the development of filtering masks. The number of patents in March and April 2020 increased by about 100% compared with the period before the pandemic [ 19 ]. New designs improved the filtration efficiency and the wearing comfort [ 20 , 21 , 22 ].…”