Self-disinfecting protective garment

摘要

A self-disinfecting personal protective garment comprises a plurality of pockets covered by a porous external layer. Each pocket contains (or can be filled with) a disinfecting solution. Applying compression to the flexible chamber of the pocket (such as by inflation of adjacent inflatable chambers) causes pressurization of the disinfecting solution and forces the solution to flow from the pockets across and through the porous external layer and ultimately to spread over the external surface of the protective garment—so as to eradicate the pathogens on the surface and disinfect the protective garment. Also described is a conversion kit configured to add a self-disinfecting feature to a conventional protective garment. The protective garment of the invention may be used by healthcare workers treating Ebola patients or patients with other highly contagious infections—to extend the time of garment usage, simplify garment removal procedure and increase their personal safety.

主权项

1. A self-disinfecting protective suit comprising: arm sleeve, leg, and chest areas configured to cover a wearer, a plurality of pocket clusters located on predetermined areas of the suit, wherein each pocket cluster comprises a plurality of individual pockets, each individual pocket comprising a flexible impermeable chamber covered by and sealed along an outer peripheral edge with a flexible porous external layer forming an internal volume, said flexible porous external layer being a part of an external surface of said protective suit, said internal volume of each pocket containing a disinfecting solution,
a plurality of inflatable chambers throughout the protective suit, wherein each of said individual pockets further comprises one of said plurality of inflatable chambers positioned behind said flexible impermeable chamber, said plurality of inflatable chambers are configured to cause pressurization of said disinfecting solution when the plurality of inflatable chambers are at least partially inflated, a rigid backing layer attached and sealed along its peripheral edge along an inside surface of said protective suit, the rigid backing layer positioned behind the flexible impermeable chamber of each of said individual pockets, wherein said inflatable chambers predominantly expand in a direction towards said flexible porous external layer, wherein said rigid backing layer is configured to limit foreshortening of said external surface of said protective suit when the inflatable chambers are inflated, and wherein inflation causes compression of said flexible impermeable chambers and said disinfecting solution is urged to flow from said internal volume through the porous external layer and spread over said predetermined areas of said external surface of said protective suit so as to disinfect thereof.