방역 마스크(N95) 개발자 이야기

방역 마스크(N95) 개발자 이야기

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Moon Keun Lee

21분 · Shared via AddThis · 

 

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Meet the U.S. scientist who invented the N95 mask filter | ShareAmerica

By  Noelani Kirschner  -Aug 12, 2020

[ 요약 번역 ]

N95 마스크는 대만에서 미국으로 유학하고 대학교수가 된 Peter Tsai교수 개발팀이 1990년대에 개발함.

처음에는 공장에서 일하는 노동자들이 미세먼지 방호용으로 개발되었으나, 1996년 미국 질병관리본부

(Centers for Disease Control)에서 VIRUS도 95% 차단할 수 있다는 것을 밝혀서, 3M에서 N95 Mask를

제작하였음. N95의 숫자 95는 미세먼지 박테리아 및 바이러스를 95% 차단할 수 있다는 뜻이다.

Tsai교수는 2018년 은퇴하였다가 2019년 coronavirus pandemic으로 미국의 마스크 부족현상이 발생되자

다시 일선에 복귀하여 하루 18~20시간을 일하며 재사용 방법을 찾는데 노력하고있다..

사용한 마스크를 물로 끓이거나 알콜소독 혹은 오븐에 구우면 기능이 떨어지는데,오븐에 섭씨 71도로 구으면 마스크가 정상적으로 작동하는 것을 알아냈다.

Tsai교수는 자기가 마스크를 개발할 당시에는 N95마스크가 수백만명의 사람을 죽음으로 부터 구할 수 있게 될 것을 상상도 하지 못하였다고 말하고있다.

그는 만약 95마스크가 없으면 면마스크라도 꼭 쓰기를 권장하고있다.

누구나 마스크를 써야 코로나 바이러스 감염을 줄일 수 있다고 강조하고있다.

※미국이 마스크 때문에 애먹은 것은 ,중국에 있는 3M마스크 공장에서 미국으로의 반출을 중국이 차단시켰기 때문이었다... 중국이 코로나 바이러스 문제를 초기부터 거짓말과 거짓된 통계 발표로 세계를 속인 결과 앞으로 공산품의 공급망(supply chain) 변화 등 대중국 압박정책이 예상된다.

When, in the 1990s, Peter Tsai invented the material that made the N95 mask possible, he never expected it would save millions of lives decades later.

Now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mask — which can trap viruses and bacteria — is used by first responders, medical professionals and at-risk people around the world.

“My invention is just an ordinary invention in an extraordinary time,” Tsai said.

The electrocharged fiber that makes up the N95 mask took more than a decade for Tsai to develop.

After coming to the U.S. from Taiwan in 1981 to study at Kansas State University, Tsai went on to earn a doctorate in material science after completing over 500 credits in a variety of subjects, such as engineering and the hard sciences, which “is equivalent to six Ph.D.s,” he said.

Tsai followed his professor from Kansas State University to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he eventually became a professor himself.

There, Tsai led a research team to develop a material that filtered air by attracting particles through electrostatically charged fibers. In 1992, the team developed a material consisting of both positive and negative charges, attracting particles — such as dust, bacteria and viruses — and trapping 95 percent of them by polarization before they can pass through the mask.

“The original intent was to use these charged fibers for air filters, such as home filters,” Tsai said.

That discovery soon led to the creation of the N95 mask, since it, too, is a type of air filter — one designed for single, individual use. The N95 mask was originally designed for construction workers in dusty environments, where it could block microparticles.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control figured out in 1996 that the N95 mask could also attract and block viruses, according to Tsai. When Tsai’s material was combined with manufacturer 3M’s medical-mask design, the result was the mask that has been used by medical professionals around the world ever since.

Tsai retired from teaching in 2018. But when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, he came out of retirement to work 18- to 20-hour days trying to figure out how to most efficiently sanitize N95 masks for reuse when an increased demand meant masks were in short supply.

While boiling, alcohol and baking all reduced the effectiveness of the mask, Tsai found that baking the masks in the oven at 71 degrees Celsius works. Tsai’s preferred method is to let the virus die naturally by letting the mask sit for seven days without being touched. If the virus doesn’t have a host for that long, it dies on the surface of the mask.

And even if someone doesn’t own an N95 mask, Tsai says, any kind of cotton mask or nose and mouth covering is better than nothing for reducing the spread of COVID-19.

“Everyone,” he says, “needs to wear a mask.”