Mumbai Student Designs Ventilation System To Cool Down COVID PPE Kits

The sheer weight of the COVID-19 pandemic has our healthcare system suffering –– the frontline workers are overworked, drained and in need of respite. Spending hours on end in PPE kits, healthcare workers often find themselves exhausted, breathless and in a pool of sweat. Inevitably, they cannot give themselves any relief.

With an aim to solve the problem of the absence of ventilation in these PPE kits, 19-year-old Nihaal Singh Adarsh has invented a compact ventilation system called ‘Cov-Tech’. As easy to put on as a belt, the device uses a lithium-ion battery that lasts six to eight hours.

As reported by ANI, he explains how the device tackles the lack of airflow inside PPE kits: “Cov-Tech Ventilation System is like you are sitting under the fan even while you are inside the PPE suit. It takes the surrounding air, filters it and pushes it into the PPE suit.”

The second-year student of KJ Somaiya College of Engineering, Mumbai found inspiration from his mother, who herself is a doctor. Her complaints of zero-ventilation in PPE kits led to her son creating a device that tackles the problem.

Nihaal has now began a startup, Watt Technovations which makes Cov-Tech available at a price of INR 5,499, and they are further trying to reduce the price.

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