We’re very pleased to announce that the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) has awarded the University of Southampton team behind PeRSo – Personal Respirator Southampton – with a President’s Special Award for Pandemic Service for exceptional engineering achievements in tackling COVID-19 throughout the UK.
Southampton’s award-winning first phase PeRSo team is led by Paul Elkington, Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Hywel Morgan, Professor of Bioelectronics, and includes Dr Alex Dickinson, Dr Daniel Spencer, Dr Mark Mavrogordato, Dr Ric Gillams, Dr Antonio De Grazia, Dr Sebastian Rosini, and Dr Alexandra Mant.
One week before lockdown in March, colleagues from the Faculties of Medicine and Engineering and Physical Sciences came together to develop a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) for healthcare workers. With help from the university’s Institute for Life Sciences, a team was assembled and the idea went from a rough sketch to a prototype within four days.
By the time lockdown began, refined prototype development and basic functional testing were completed with prototypes then given to frontline medical staff who provided useful and very positive feedback.
The early stage prototype was made possible through collaboration with industry partners, including McLaren and Kemp Sails. A local Southampton-based company called INDO Lighting on behalf of Baynham’s repurposed its furloughed manufacturing capability and delivered a re-engineered prototype, which has been tested in hospitals and is currently awaiting final regulatory approvals which are making positive progress.
“PeRSo is a triumph of ingenuity at a time of global adversity and national emergency,” said Professor Mark Spearing, Vice-President (Research and Enterprise). “All of us at the University congratulate this special group who came together so quickly and effectively to focus on creating a solution to benefit their colleagues working on the frontline.”
Professor Morgan said: “I am sure the entire team will join me in expressing our gratitude to the Royal Academy of Engineering for the President’s Special Award in recognition of their sterling efforts in developing the PeRSo respirator. The project is a great example of an interdisciplinary engineering team responding to an urgent need, working closely with clinical colleagues to develop a simple, yet practical solution. We were also very fortunate to have enthusiastic support from local industry, who worked around the clock in the early days, and without whom I am certain the final product would never have materialised.”
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