Medical equipment is currently in short supply. Numerous members of the Sächsische Industrieforschungsgemeinschaft e. V. (SIG) support Saxon hospitals in the fight against Corona, depending on their possibilities.
There is also support from Freiberg. FILK Freiberg is currently involved in the development of a so-called "undemanding" ventilator. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Kröger from the Institute for Machine Elements, Design and Manufacturing at the Freiberg Mining Academy is currently tinkering with a simple ventilation system in cooperation with the mine rescue team of the Reiche Colliery in Freiberg. The system fulfills all essential functions, does not require electronics or an electric drive and only needs compressed air or oxygen. FILK Freiberg supplies silicone-based elastomer membranes as sealing material for the prototypes, which are already being tested. If the devices pass the tests, they will be available as flexible ventilators that can be used independently of a costly supply infrastructure.
Other SIG institutes, such as the ITW in Chemnitz, the ILK in Dresden, Cetex and STFI in Chemnitz, and the IHD in Dresden, have been producing components for face masks using the 3D printing process since the end of March. A foil and a rubber band are attached by hand to the 3D-printed plastic mask holders and the face masks are ready for use. The masks are distributed free of charge to hospitals and nursing homes in the respective regions. "For example, we at the IHD produce about 60 masks per day, which are very gratefully received by nurses at Dresden University Hospital and other municipal hospitals," reports Prof. Dr. Steffen Tobisch (Institute Director of the IHD and Chairman of the SIG Board). Other member institutes are currently getting their 3D printers ready for mask printing and will go into production in the coming days.
In order to produce fabrics for mouthguards, the STFI in Chemnitz has converted its experimental extrusion nonwovens lines to the production of fine fiber nonwovens (meltblown) and has already been working at the limit of its capacity for more than two weeks. In addition to several companies in Saxony, customers include companies throughout Germany and increasingly also from other European countries.
As a so-called SMS structure, the meltblown nonwovens are processed in combination with spunbonded nonwovens to form protective masks, which are urgently needed in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic. Because the material has very good filtering properties, some customers have already been able to achieve FFP2 quality for their masks. Most recently, the nonwoven composite produced at STFI was confirmed to have a bacterial filtration efficiency of 99.5%.