The global pandemic that has gripped the world for the past year hasn’t been easy for anyone, however, it has been incredible to see people from all communities and backgrounds band together to help each other. Manufacturing industries have been hard at work building what’s needed to fight COVID-19, with car manufacturers in particular lending their engineering departments to the cause. Ford’s latest contribution is a low-cost air purifier made largely from cardboard.
Ford’s Project Apollo was created to come up with solutions to the huge problems this pandemic is causing. It has helped with PPE and rapidly produced breathing equipment thanks to its talented research and development. A big issue facing densely populated areas is airflow, or the lack of it. Ford’s new air filtration system promises a cheap means of cleaning the air where a fresh supply isn’t readily available.
It consists of just three components… A box fan, a filter and some cardboard. The easy to construct table-like structure draws air down and through the filter, with clean air than being expelled. It might look like a kid’s science project, but the scientific research involving computer fluid dynamics testing is sound. It’s so easy to assemble that children in school districts of Los Angeles, New York, and southwest Michigan USA have been working on construction. Ford donated 20,000 of its potentially life saving cardboard purifiers to these areas in a bid to help keep the virus from spreading.
Ford has published the template and instructions for constructing its cardboard purifier to enable anyone in need to better filtration in enclosed spaces to build one. It’s a neat idea that doesn’t costs, but it’s safe to say that it could pay dividends.
“We wanted to help underserved communities reduce the risk of airborne COVID-19 in poorly ventilated areas, and it’s great to not only develop something that can meet that goal, but has the data to back it up,” said Dr. Cynthia Flanigan, director, vehicle research and technology, Ford research and advanced engineering. “We engaged with technical leads from University of Minnesota, as well as other scientists doing research in this space, such as Well Living Lab to make sure our research was rock-solid.”
Other manufacturers such as McLaren, Ferrari and Lamborghini have been producing PPE or specialised medical equipment, while many mainstream marques have focused on supporting NHS staff and key workers.
With new variants of the virus being detected, the efforts of those in engineering and manufacturing are greatly appreciated.
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Keyword: Ford invents cardboard air purifier to fight COVID-19