Project Overview

RSX15 is the first respiratory mask designed to be worn on standard safety helmets. Today many industry workers are unaware of the dangers of small dust particles in their working environment. When they need a respiratory mask, it is often placed too far away, so they continue without. Daily exposure to even small amounts of airborne particles dramatically increase the risks for overtime ending up with medical conditions like asthma, cancer or heart failure.

With RSX15, protection is within an arms reach, there when you need it, always.

Project Details

Design challenges

There were a several challenges to address when designing the RSX15 concept. In order for it to not to cause neck-pain or feel uncomfortable wearing, the mask had to be perfectly balanced on the helmet. Another criteria were to make the solution adaptable to all standard safety helmets equipped with a amounting for protective headphones.

The mask also had to be easy to access on the helmet. If the user wears eye protection and protective headphones, the mask could not interfere with these when the users place the mask on their face.

When the mask is stored on the helmet, the inner-mask had to be designed in such a way that it could fold inwards and thus shielding itself from dust and dirt, so the user would not inhale this accidentally the next time the mask is used.
The last major criteria that had to be solved was that the worker had to be able to use the mask without taking off the helmet, glasses and headphones, like todays existing solutions dictates.

Problems that I solved

In mines people work in teams with dangerous tools and equipment, thus they have to be able to talk to each other in a split second if something happens. When a regular respiratory mask covers ones mouth, even people close to each other are not able to hear or communicate efficiently.
Research findings indicated that this is the reason why coalminers do not wear and use their respiratory masks, even knowing that it will protect them from getting coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP), also known as black lung disease.
The solution was to have a small unit with a build-in microphone and speaker in the front part of the mask. There would two feature levels to this, either by having the audio signal played from the speaker module in the mask or trough the protective headphones. The unit will be activated the second the user moves the mask from the helmet down to the face, simply by removing the neck-strap from the battery on the back of the helmet.

Another problem is that the respiratory masks are most often stored far away from the working area. In the mine that we visited, they stored them in cars and in the safety room, which was far away from the worksites. Today, there is no good way to store the mask on the worker and it is perceived as clumsy and in the way when placed around the neck. You are also exposing the mask to dust, which you later will inhale. By having the mask on the helmet with the foldable inner-mask the will protect itself from dust these last two problems are solved.

Two other problems addressed were the issues of making the user seen in dark environment, like a mine and to increase the overall safety. The solutions was to have an intelligent rear light that turns on automatically when the user enters a dark area and to include a simple accelerometer that serves as an alarm in case the user falls. If the user does not respond by getting up, the RSX15 will send out a distress signal that the closest co-worker will receive and act upon

Why is this unique?

IRSX15 this is the first one of its kind. There are no other respiratory mask on the market today designed as an add-on solution for placement and storage on a standard safety helmet.

The mask is designed to be perfectly balanced on the helmet. The placement of the helmet makes it extremely easy to access and the folding mechanism of the inner-mask insures that dust will not enter the mask when worn on the helmet.
Another aspect that makes the RSX15 unique is its versatility and ability to be prepared to a large range of different working environments, legal demands or user needs or preferences. This versatility is achieved through the modularity of placing specific functionality-modules in outer part of mask. This functionality module will be mounted during the last steps of the assembly process before the product is delivered.

The functionality of the module will differ depending on the specification on the use of the mask and the functionalities and technology desired. This offers the opportunity to custom-make the mask specifically to the unique working environment that the mask will be used in. This offers the possibility to prepare the RSX15 for diverse tasks and price levels, whether it is suppose to be used underground, at a dusty worksite in daylight, at a chemical or gas plant with dangerous fumes or a site where the mask should assist in taking samples of airborne practices for lab analysis.

Counting in the opportunity of having the RSX15 with or without the communication unit and the five different functionality-modules considered at this stage, the RSX15 can be offered in ten different variations, tailor-made of different contexts and price ranges.

This also gives the customers the possibility to upgrade the product themselves, either to prolong the lifetime of the mask with the same feature level or to add new features and functionalities to the mask, making the RSX15 much more than just another respiratory mask.

The user

Since the RSX15 offers at least ten different feature levels, the mask can be adapted to anyone whose work tasks requires a safety helmet. The primary benefit the user will get from having the RSX15 on the helmet is the knowledge that their breathing protection is there, within an arms reach, always. The possibility to upgrade the RSX15 during its lifetime with new modules and functions is a unique feature compared to any other mask on the market that adds value for both the buyer and the user.

The life cycle

The RSX15 is built on the concept of modularity that besides the specialized functionality modules includes the exchangeability of the two filters and the inter-mask close to the mouth and face. This offers the possibility to upgrade the RSX15's performance with both basic parts and the same or new functionality modules over time, which is expected to extend the total lifetime of the RSX15 by a factor or three compared to conventional masks.

The market

The RSX15 will, through its modularity, be targeted at a number of different markets. The first of these would be specialized industries like the mining and petroleum and gas industry. Both markets have high turn over's and strong legal demands for workers safety, demands which the RSX15 is designed to meet through a combination of the built in communication unit and functionality modules with led lights or a gas sensor that can detect gas leakages.

Production & materials

One of the major advantages with the RSX15 concept is that can be made with existing materials using proven production techniques. Most of the parts, as the front part of the mask, the battery casing and the connection point to the helmet, will be made of recyclable plastic. The inner-mask will be made of rubber to provide a good and comfortable fit against the face and to achieve the ability to be folded when worn on the helmet. The filters will be made using the same and approved materials used for the filters on the market today.

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