University comes up with mass-produced face shields
OFFICERS IN Sheffield said they were working with nonEnglish speaking groups to ensure compliance with social distancing rules, but acknowledged that this “presents challenges for us in communicating the significance of the situation”.
Officers in the Page Hall area said they have been engaging with the Slovakian community, following concerns about groups gathering in the street, and believe compliance in the suburb is improving.
South Yorkshire Police moved to reassure critics after pictures emerged on social media of gangs of people congregating in the terraced streets.
Page Hall is home to a large Slovakian Roma community and the force has acknowledged that many people do not speak English as their first language.
Superintendent Delphine Waring said: “This naturally presents challenges for us in communicating the significance of the current situation. It also means it is more difficult to explain the specifics of social distancing and keeping people apart, especially when there are cultural differences to consider too.
A YORKSHIRE university is developing new face shields that can be mass-produced ‘within minutes’ to maximise the supply of lifesaving equipment for healthcare workers across the UK.
A team of engineers at the University of Hull has worked around the clock to create the new designs, which can be produced by high volume manufacturing techniques, such as laser cutting and injection moulding, rather than 3D printing.
The techniques used to produce the designs, which will be shared nationally, could increase the amount of face shields made each day from 100 to up to 5,000.
The university is leading a collaboration to increase production of the face shields to prevent the spread of coronavirus in healthcare organisations.
After a request from NHS consultants, the team adapted designs shared by the engineering and maker community to suit their 3D printers and to fit with the feedback from medical consultants.
They delivered around 500 face shields in four days but now
Nathan Brown, senior lecturer in mechanical engineering, with a bank of 3D-printers.
aim to produce more than 20,000 products per week, using the industrial technique.
Nathan Brown, senior lecturer in mechanical engineering at the University of Hull and lead for this project, said: “3D printing is very good for making oneoff parts but when you’re looking for mass production, it’s not really the technology that we want to be using.”
Mr Brown said they are now working with a local injection moulding company, who had taken the 3D printed model design
and remodelled it to suit their manufacturing process.
He said production may soon be increased.
He said: “Hopefully, within the next week or so, we should be in a position from that design that we can manufacture between 2,000 and 5,000 a day.”
The university is appealing to any local businesses who can support the project – with either the supply of materials or 3D printing, laser cutting, or water jet cutting equipment – to get in touch at fblp-business@hull.ac.uk.