INNOVATION-May-June-2020

Ten UVic 3-D printers are being used to produce some of the face shield components; other components are being 3-D printed by students, alumni, and individuals, or manufactured by local businesses. When complete, the components are dropped in a bin outside Dr. Willerth’s lab, after which they are assembled, and then sterilized using UVic’s UV-emitting machine. “We’ve made about 1,800 [face shields] and delivered them all over the island,” said Willerth, adding that she and her team have enough supplies to complete 8,000 units. She said that a partnership with TECHNATION and Innovate BC will fund co-op students, including a chief engineer and an undergraduate engineering student, to continue work on COVID-19-related products. “We’re looking into ultraviolet sterilization boxes, too,” she said. Dr. Woo Soo Kim, P.Eng., Associate Professor in Mechatronics at SFU and a leading expert on sustainable 3-D printing manufacturing design, has also rapidly pivoted his work to COVID-19 solutions. “The entire SFU community is working at home,” he said. “Now I’m spending most of my time working on COVID-19.” Dr. Kim is leading the “3-D Designed PPE Initiative,” intended to focus the department’s skills and resources to design and produce sorely needed PPE for health care workers. Dr. Kim co-opted nearly 60 SFU engineering students, many of whom have 3-D printing units at home. One of the initiative’s first jobs was to fulfill a request from Dr. Lillian Hung, Clinical Assistant Professor at UBC Nursing, for a comfortable mask strap for health care workers who need to wear masks for long periods. Dr. Kim and his team recently produced and delivered 500 “ear-saver” mask straps to Dr. Hung at Vancouver General Hospital.

Dr. Woo Soo Kim, P.Eng., delivers 3-D printed ear-saver mask straps to Dr. Lillian Hung at Vancouver General Hospital. P hoto C ourtesy of D r . W oo S oo K im , P.E ng .

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A 3-D printer makes ear-saver straps, part of Dr. Kim's 3-D Designed PPE Initiative.

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