An opportunity to minimise risk of exposure to COVID-19 for frontline NHS staff involved in both the intubation and extubation processes has been identified by senior NHS practitioners.
MTC engineers, working in collaboration with Rolls-Royce and Dr Ian Renfrew, Consultant Interventional Radiologist at BARTS alongside Dr Paolo Perella, Anaesthetic Registrar at Royal London Hospital, supported by Innovate UK, have over a 7 day period prototyped, developed and seen operational a fast make AGP Shield for use with Ventilators. Wider applications for the shield have also been identified, further aiding the safety of front-line medical staff.
It is anticipated that the NHS may need several thousand of these shields, with the MTC set to manufacture the first batch of up to two hundred units, which can be quickly scaled up across multiple supply chains in order to meet higher demands.
The first two hundred AGP Shield units have been successfully fulfilled and were fully funded by the MTC. Due to ongoing demand, we are currently seeking further sponsorship and continue to take orders from hospitals. If your company or organisation wishes to fund AGP Shields, or sponsor a local hospital, then please do not hesitate to get in touch by emailing us at covid19support@the-mtc.org
Where funding is not available, hospitals and institutions may optionally wish to purchase the units. Please enquire using the below form for pricing and availability.
This project was part funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of a COVID-19 relief fund.
The shield has undergone multiple design changes following trials in three hospitals which has helped development from the initial prototype through to the manufacture of the first production units. Feedback from medical professionals suggests that these shields could not only be used during intubation and extubation procedures but also several other medical procedures beyond COVID-19. This means they could also potentially be used in Intensive Care Units (ITU’s) and Theatres. MTC engineers are now working with Aston Martin, and Multimatic to refine the initial design enabling the shield to be made in one-piece. Aston Martin is also utilising state of the art cutting machines at Gaydon, to cut out the silicone components that are used in the assembly of the box. These advances will further aid the speed of production and overall ability to meet NHS demand.
The first test assemblies of a vacuum formed, single piece design which is faster to make, lighter, simpler, cheaper and stackable, have been completed and delivered to St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London for testing. The vacuum formed parts have been supplied by MultiMatic, a supplier to Aston Martin, using a temporary tool for proof of concept.
Technical design packs of the AGP Shield are available for download as a flat-pack version and under licence for fabricated and vacuum formed versions.
The full AGP Shield design and build instructions, for both the fabricated and vacuum formed versions of the AGP Shield, are available under application only licence for manufacture. If you would like to find out more information, please get in touch.
Technical design packs are available as an open source download for the flat-pack version of the AGP Shield. This provides manufacturers free access to the files and allows hospitals around the world to get units produced locally for speed and efficiency.
A recent CFD study, completed by Arup, analyses the spread and movement of the virus droplets and aerosol airpaths within the AGP shield. By simulating the airflow patterns and identifying the trajectory of the virus particles emitted from a typical COVID-19 patient, the report concludes the shield is up to 90% effective at trapping and extracting particles when a suction tube is placed vertically on the side. You can read the full report by downloading the document below.
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