The whole world is wearing face masks to protect themselves from Covid-19. It has become clear that all masks do not protect their wearers equally. The only masks that have been formally tested are the N95 masks that are reserved for medical workers.

In this project, I set out to design and build a low-cost mask testing device that provides a reasonably good assessment of a mask’s protection. By measuring how many particles can bypass the mask, it shows how effective the mask will defend the person from the virus. Right now, mask testing devices are extremely expensive and only used by large manufacturers and laboratories. Only the very high-quality N95 masks are being tested, which are not currently available to the general public.  This means that most people don’t know if their masks can stop a high percentage of virus particles.

My project can quickly test masks and perhaps publish the data to a public database. People around the country would be able to send their masks to a test center and get the results quickly. If the mask was already in the database, they could make an informed decision before purchasing. This service would be important for people who are making their own masks or selling self-made masks. If a seller on Etsy or eBay wanted to get their masks tested, now their customers would be able to see exactly what they were buying. The CDC recently came out and said that cloth masks are often not effective. There’s also a problem with counterfeit masks and those that do not meet the manufacturer’s standards. People need to know which masks are effective to keep themselves safe during the pandemic.

My device is able to calculate the percentage of different sized particles filtered by the mask being tested. It can also measure the change in pressure to show how easy it is to breathe through the mask. This device is for mask producers, mask distributors, service organizations, and end-users.