Hoodies are great, and rightfully a hacker’s favorite attire: they shield you from the people around you, keep your focus on the screen in front of you, and are a decent enough backup solution when you forgot your balaclava. More than that, they are also comfortable, unless of course it is summer time. But don’t worry, [elkroketto] has built a solution to provide the regular hoodie wearer with a constant breeze around his face, although his Clean Air Bubble is primarily tackling an even bigger problem: air pollution.
Wanting to block out any environmental factors from the air he breathes, [elkroketto] got himself a thrift store hoodie to cut holes in the back, and attach two radial fans that suck in the air through air filtering cloths. A 3D printed air channel is then connected to each fan, and attached on the inside of the hood, blowing the filtered air straight into his face. Salvaging a broken drill’s battery pack as power supply and adding a 3D printed clip-in case for the step-up converter, the fans should provide him a good 5 hours of fresh air. Of course, one could also add a solar charging rig if that’s not enough.
Keep in mind though, while a wearable air filter might sound particularly useful in current times, [elkroketto] specifically points out that this is not for medical use and won’t filter out any airborne diseases.
am i the only one who wears a hoodie as a protection against cold?
Probably yeah. Never thought of that. You MIGHT be on to something here.
:D
Very cool hack. I could see this being developed into a closed system that looks “acceptable” nice :D
Add clear foil with zipper to front, if those fans could blow from top, they would remove fog from breathing. Any surplus air would escape by fabric and bottom of hoodie.
Living in the north east of the US, everyone here has a hooded sweatshirt or coat. The difference is if you wear the hood when it is not needed to protect you from cold.
Pointless, fresh air just passes right through, turbulence at your noise sucks in air from the front, filled with coronavirus.
Huh, neat as a concept piece. That design for using the Bosch battery pack is cool in its own right.
All the fresh air that passes through will help conceal the fact that it smells quite badly, as with the rigid 3D prints and electronics thrown in it’s no longer machine washable.
Hehe, yeah adding electronics to clothing really needs some cunning mechanisms so the big lumpy electronic bits, which might or might not survive the wash don’t wreck the garment they are attached to.
Is a very interesting idea, wonder just how effective it really is on a hoodie like that, I suppose if you practiced shallow breathing so you don’t pull in more distant unfiltered air too much it could actually work quite well. And would work much better sitting down inside / in still surrounding air as the filtered air blown past you will still be most of the air around your head.
Hitting the nail on the head why integrated wearables aren’t all over the place.
I started thinking about it, and without being able to constrain the path of the blown air, most if not all of the benefits of the filtered air will be lost quite quickly as the air quality diffueses once it starts combining . While the static pressure of the blowers is relatively high for their size, I can only imagine that the system to direct the air is causing quite a bit of drag. In addition, to use a fan that could effectively create an ‘air knife’ style effect would lead to two issues – A) vastly increased power consumption and B) Much higher noise.
As all the facemasks have been panic-bought I have acquired some car pollen filter elements cheap off eBay, and this sort of personal fan-powered device will work great with them.
You should also stock up on plenty of snake oil, it is a miracle cure for all illnesses and it probably works just as well as your idea.
Need something like this hacked into my rain jacket –they just don’t breath. Pit-zips might be somewhat helpful, but arms and other areas still build up sweat. Thought about doing this more than a little.
You can try, or just buy a gore-tex type of jacket, never gets wet inside. Pumping humid air into your jacket most likely makes it wetter. You’d need something like an air dryer or air conditioner to get the moist out. Would be fun carrying the weight of an airconditioner with battery pack to power it making you all sweaty ;)
With a more substantial filtering system and bigger battery, this would be great for people working outdoors regularly.
It won’t eliminate all of the particulate matter or such, but it would be a good enough approach without having to cover your face.
If I were them and had the resources, I would seriously consider experimenting with more substantial designs and consider selling it to pollution-heavy jobs. Street cleaners, building & construction (sans the hoodie, more a helmet strap-on and shield), police, etc.
It’d definitely improve quality of life over time for so many people even if only 30% efficient. Particulate matter especially, reducing that has a profound effect on lung health.
Outdoor work often requires lifting heavy items and working in close quarters around hedges and shrubs and your mechanism will only get in the way. Raking of leaves and sweeping of driveways produce an enormous amount of dust which will quickly clog your filters. There is no way anyone is going to be able to negotiate climbing a ladder to clean gutters or trim trees with all that gear strapped on. If you work hard and breath heavily your breath will break right though the air curtain and you’re breathing normal air.
Or you could wear a respirator when doing such work….. ?
Why do you feel it’s a problem to cover your face?
And you then go on to talk about applications wher you’d cover your face.
Do you not perform tasks with consideration for PPE gear?
I used to do that when I was younger. I guess as you get older you become less “bro” and more about longevity.
Perhaps when we pass 40 some of us become born again PPE evangelists
Im cold too 3/4 of the time, started keeping my turtle neck on indoors lately. One wich I use with biking like in the url below. Just as good if not better! Mostly when used together. I go outside without a jacket for a bit and don’t even feel it. It really traps that cushion of warm air my lazy ass worked so hard for to generate. And I can rotate my head with no issues.
https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1wQgSQpXXXXbhaXXXq6xXFXXXM/223059125/HTB1wQgSQpXXXXbhaXXXq6xXFXXXM.jpg
Wouldn’t noise/sound from the fans will be rather irritating?
Just so close to your ears.
I dislike the noise coming from a notebook … on a desk … 50CM away from my ears … and not constantly blowing … Mmmm
Isn’t dangerous this air flow during these times?