Safran Electronics & Defense help address the COVID-19 emergency

SUMMARY

 

1. Adapting DECATHLON's Easybreath Subea mask in the fight against Covid-19

2. Adapting NBC Protection and 3D-printed for medical use

3. Our parachutes manufacturing plant harness its know-how to protect the city workers in Tours

4. Helicopters at the heart of the fight against COVID-19

5. Infrared binoculars to detect sick person?

6. The exemplary industrial solidarity

 

 

 

Adapting DECATHLON’s Easybreath Subea mask in the fight against Covid-19

 

Safran has adapted the Easybreath diving mask from sports retailer DECATHLON to protect medical personnel from airborne droplets that could transmit the coronavirus, in conjunction with the engineering firm Segula Technologies and with support from the French Armed Forces Biomedical Research Institute (IRBA).

 

Safran and Segula Technologies are offering open access to the files needed for 3D printing, based on a free license, thus allowing hospitals and healthcare professionals to make their own adaptation kits. Safran has already 3D-printed these kits, and is providing 200 modified masks to university hospitals.

 

Simple solution, good collaboration 

Safran and Segula Technologies looked for a simple and quickly usable solution, a condition met by the DECATHLON Easybreath mask, available in large volumes. Fitted with antiviral filtration cartridges found at hospitals, plus accessories and connectors used in intensive care units, the Easybreath mask fitted with this anti-Covid-19 kit meets the requirements of both caregivers and patients on ventilators.

For caregivers, it provides protection by filtering inhalation via two filters in the mask’s upper and lower ducts. The efficiency of the filters is 99.99%. For patients, the upper duct filters exhalation, which limits contamination of the environment, while still allowing oxygen therapy, while the lower duct is fitted with a respiratory assistance kit. In addition, it can be quickly reused after being decontaminated by soaking.

To carry out this mission, Safran has mobilized very specific Group know-how in the field of aeronautical masks, through collaboration between the teams of Safran's R&T & Innovation Department (requirements specification), those of Safran Electronics & Defense (prototyping, trials and tests with IRBA) and those of Safran Aerosystems, which provide their expertise in the design of oxygenation breathing equipment for the civil and military aeronautics.

 

Proven effectiveness

Doctors who tested this solution found that it complements existing Easybreath adaptations, and also effectively meets their requirements. The modified mask reflects the standard principles of patient oxygen supply: it’s directly opposite the mouth, which makes breathing easier. Tests at IRBA and Henri-Mondor University Hospital in Créteil, near Paris, have proven its effectiveness based on the same configuration: the mask protects the caregiver, limits contamination of the surrounding area and supports oxygen treatments.

Caregivers are highly exposed to the risks associated with air droplets carrying the virus in their daily interactions with patients infected with Covid-19 (ambulance and other transport, stretcher transfer and carriage, work in contaminated environments, decontamination of rooms and equipment, intubation, tracheotomy, etc.). This risk is exacerbated by the fact that patients with respiratory distress need additional oxygen, which may increase the risk of exposure from exhaled droplets and thus the danger of contamination.

Safran and Segula Technologies are offering open access to the files needed for 3D printing, based on a free license, thus allowing hospitals and healthcare professionals to make their own adaptation kits. Safran has already 3D-printed these kits, and is providing 200 modified masks to university hospitals.

 

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Adapting NBC Protection and 3D-printed for medical use

 

Safran is working closely with French authorities to adapt various products for medical use – in particular masks and air filters originally intended for totally different uses.

 

The first are masks that protect against NBC (nuclear, biological, & chemical) threats and are designed for soldiers in the army. They are part of the FELIN (Integrated Infantryman Equipment and Communications) equipment provided by Safran Electronics & Defense and were designed to be used in contaminated settings, especially germ warfare situations. These masks are equipped with a filter and an independent ventilation system. They could protect healthcare providers during activities with a high risk of exposure to contaminants such as intubation of a patient or physical exertion in a contaminated environment.

 

At the same time, we are working on a 3D-printed mask offering high-level protection (FFP2), reusable after cleaning and changing the cartridge. Designed for people at risk in the fight against COVID-19, this model will use filtering cartridges that are an integral part of the EROS oxygen masks made by Safran Aerosystems. Once it passes certification tests, Safran will be targeting a production rate of 20,000 filtering cartridges per week.

 

 

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Our parachutes manufacturing plant harness its know-how to protect the city workers in Tours

 

Collection personnel, bus drivers, city hall teams: the city workers of Tours (France) are on the front line when it comes to ensuring essential activities of everyday life continue to be performed. 

 

So that they can execute their duties in a safe way, the city sought the help of Safran Electronics & Defense Joué-les-Tours parachute manufacturing plant. The company responded immediately, and thanks to their know-how in textile treatment and sewing, was able to produce the required face masks from raw material supplied by the city. A workshop was set-up very quickly, the first test batch completed, and the production was launched. 300 non-medical washable masks have now been delivered, and production should imminently reach 400 units a day.

 

 

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Helicopters at the heart of the fight against COVID-19

 

More than ever, helicopters are playing a critical role in transporting patients to hospitals, and evacuating others to regions where intensive care units are less crowded.

 

One of Safran's flagship products plays an essential role in patient evacuation: Helicom, a unit that enables the geolocation via satellite of a helicopter at any given moment. With helicopters flying regular missions to lighten the load on the most heavily impacted regions, this system allows the coordinating doctors to efficiently manage flights into and out of hospitals and track all ongoing flights, especially for cross-border evacuation.

Safran Electronics & Defense adapted its Helicom system to meet this health requirement and temporarily financed the cost of this service for one of its customers, an operator engaged in airborne medical evacuation missions. The first feed backs are positive!

 

 

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Infrared binoculars to detect sick person?

 

In order to slow down the Covid-19 pandemic, identifying the sick is a major issue. Among the possible devices, infrared binoculars from Safran Electronics & Defense could be an answer.

 

In a crowd of people, infrared thermography helps identify people with fever. In fact, infrared imagery detects the temperature differences emitted by different objects or living things present in a scene. Safran’s infrared binoculars would thus enable triage - in the medical sense of the term - of people with fever, and therefore at risk, at the entrance to a site (factory, administration, etc.).

Safran Electronics & Defense launched a campaign to validate its JIM binoculars for this health-related use.

 

 

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The exemplary industrial solidarity

 

Behind all of Safran’s initiatives in the fight against Covid-19, there are suppliers who have shown exemplary solidarity. 

 

EOS, INITIAL, CREAT, POLYREPRO, VOLUM-E… we cannot mention them all, but each of these suppliers has made a gesture to help Safran produce parts for caregivers' protective masks and patient oxygenation systems. Supply of seals or powder for 3D printers, production of prototypes in 3D printing… all, with extraordinary responsiveness and at preferential prices.

Conversely, Safran donated 100 kg of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), a resistant semi-plastic product, to the association “Visières solidaires” through the Essonne departmental council to manufacture protective visors.

Our Supply Chain and our relationships with our environment prove to us, if it were necessary, how much stronger we are together!

 

 

 

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This section is updated regularly to keep you informed of our commitment in this period of unprecedented health crisis.

 

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