UCD FoundationResearchers at I-Form – an advanced manufacturing research facility based in UCD’s O’Brien Centre for Science – are using 3D printing to produce face shields for healthcare staff in Dublin battling the spread of COVID-19.
Responding to a request from Tallaght University Hospital, and in the face of a global shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), the team at the SFI-funded facility worked with engineering colleagues at UCD to optimise existing designs for rapid production. Over the course of a single weekend in the lab they produced 300 face shields, and they are now scaling up production.
I-Form is also donating face shields to other hospitals and to COVID-19 testing centres in the greater Dublin area.
The researchers are now investigating the possibility of producing other critical items of PPE, including goggles and ventilator-related technology.