Caltech's Wei Gao, Professor of medical engineering, and his colleagues have developed a prototype for a smart mask that can be used to monitor a range of medical conditions, including respiratory ailments, such as asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and post-COVID-19 infections.
In contrast to other smart masks being developed that monitor physical changes like the temperature, humidity, or rate of breath, this one, called EBCare, can analyse the chemicals in one's breath in real time. ("EBC" is an acronym used in this field that means "exhaled breath condensate.") For example, the mask could monitor asthma patients for levels of nitrite, a chemical that indicates airway inflammation.
The new mask, in contrast, is self-cooling. The breath is cooled by a passive cooling system that integrates hydrogel evaporative cooling with radiative cooling to effectively chill the breath on face masks.
Once the breath has been converted into a liquid, a series of capillaries, belonging to a class of devices referred to as bioinspired microfluidics, immediately transports the liquid to sensors for analysis. The results of the analysis are then transmitted wirelessly to a personal phone, tablet, or computer.
Testing on COPD patients showed that the mask can detect the biomarker for inflammation in a patient's airways. In addition, the masks can test blood alcohol levels in human subjects and blood urea levels and monitoring of kidney disease.
"We want to expand this technology to incorporate different markers related to various health conditions. This is a foundation for creating a mask that functions as a versatile general health-monitoring platform," said Gao.
