One or more battery-operated fans are integrated into a hard hat and pull air through a filter to remove contaminants in the air. The filtered air passes through one or more channels in the hard hat and exits the hard hat through an air curtain exit located near the user's face. The exiting air leaves with sufficient velocity to form an air curtain. A user wearing goggles or other protective eyewear will have the filtered air current pass in front of the eyewear. Paint and other contaminant particles that are in the air will not be able to contact the outer surface of the eyewear, as the particles will not be able to pass through the curtain of filtered air.

A vortex tube with an arcuate hot leg. A vortex tube include a vortex chamber couple to a first tube, a cold leg, to carry a cold air stream and a second tube, the hot leg, to cause the separation of hot and cold air. The hot leg bends in an arc to allow a longer and more efficient hot leg in reduced linear space.

Described herein are embodiments directed to a particle repelling helmet having particle mitigation system that keeps dust particles from going into the interior of the helmet. The helmet comprises a face vent that provides an unobstructed pathway between an external environment and a wearer's eyes, nose and mouth. A spacer arrangement connected to an inner side of the helmet provides a channel between the wearer's head and the inner helmet side. A fan blows air through the helmet, across the wearer's head and out the face vent and head receiving opening in the bottom of the helmet. Electrodes disposed along the edge of the face vent produce an electrostatic barrier that spans the face vent thereby further preventing charged dust from going into the helmet. The helmet can also comprise an ionizer that generates ions, which charges neutral dust particles that can be blocked by the barrier.

A personal protection system for providing a sterile barrier around medical/surgical personnel. The system includes a helmet over which a hood or a toga suspended. The helmet has a chin bar that extends forward of the face of the individual wearing the system. At least one manually actuated control for regulating one aspect of operation of the system is mounted to the chin bar. Sometimes the control is a button that is depressed to control the operation of a helmet mounted fan that draws air into the hood or toga. A microphone may also be mounted to the chin bar.

A protective apparel support system is disclosed comprising a support frame configured to rest on the shoulders of a wearer, the support having a first shoulder member, a second shoulder member and a shield engagement portion. A shield is selectively coupleable to the support and protective apparel is coupled to the shield.

Life support systems include a pressure garment, a helmet, and a life support system enclosure that define an enclosed environment. The life support system includes one or more life support components to generate breathable gas within the enclosed environment. The gas is directed along a closed-loop flow path through the system. The life support components includes a fan for driving a flow of the gas through the closed-loop flow path and an acoustic damper arranged along the flow path and to reduce noise generated by the fan. The acoustic damper includes a housing defining an annular cavity arranged about a portion of the flow path, with the housing having a solid exterior surface and an inner diameter surface with openings to fluidly connect the flow path with the annular cavity and at least one acoustic damping element arranged within the annular cavity.

A blower filter device includes a blower unit that draws and delivers ambient air; a filter unit that filters a harmful substance, or a filter coupling to couple and uncouple the filter unit. A control unit is configured to actuate the blower unit, to determine an operating state of the blower filter device and/or other respirator system components and/or a respirator system (100) as a whole and to generate an alarm if a determined operating state indicates a disturbance. An output unit is configured to receive the alarm from the control unit and to output the alarm. A communication interface (228) is configured for wireless network integration and to transmit the alarm via the network (238). A respirator system (100) with such a blower filter device, an operational infrastructure (300) with such a respirator system, as well as a method of blower filter operation and operational infrastructure monitoring are provided.

A personal protection system including a hood configured for removable coupling to the helmet. The hood may include a shell defining a filter opening and a shield opening. The hood also including a transparent face shield disposed within the shield opening and attached to the shell and a filter section mounted over the filter opening defined by the shell. The filter section may be formed from a nonwoven filter medium material including activated charcoal particles embedded in the nonwoven filter medium material to trap smoke and odors in the air generated during normal surgical activities. the filter section may include a top surface and a bottom surface, and the activated charcoal particles may be embedded within the nonwoven filter medium material between the top surface and the bottom surface. The hood may further include a mounting element configured to removably couple the hood to the helmet.

A protective headgear system includes a cover including a substantially transparent facial shield, a sheet sealingly coupled to the facial shield around the cover's perimeter, the sheet including a substantially anterior portion including a first sheet material configured to act as a substantial barrier to the passage of air, and including a substantially posterior portion including a second sheet material configured to filter contaminants from air, and one or more seams between the first sheet material and the second sheet material, a flow restrictor configured to significantly create a flow barrier between the cover and the neck of a user for providing an interior volume, an air mover configured to draw some of the external air into the interior volume, a filter coupled to the cover, and one or more flow directors configured to direct internal air, including at least some exhaled air, toward the second sheet material.

A personal protection system including a hood configured for removable coupling to the helmet. The helmet including a ventilation unit and light assembly. The ventilation unit mounted to the helmet and including a fan. The light assembly is mounted to the helmet and configured to emit a beam of light within a defined range of wavelengths that cause biological tissue and fluid to fluoresce and be visible to the user. The hood that is at least partially disposed over the helmet and includes a flexible shell and a transparent face shield. The light assembly is positioned on the helmet to emit the beam of light through the transparent face shield to a location outside of the hood and the hood is mounted to the helmet so the beam of light emitted by the light assembly is directed to pass through the transparent face shield.