So as I promised on another thread, I'm starting a new project for a combination visor /respirator that will protect the user from inhaling particles laden with the Sars Cov 2 virus.
I figure that I've delayed this project long enough, perhaps because I made a very successful respirator mask that's helped me stay healthy so far, in spite of the fact that I haven't stopped working an single week since the middle of March and worse I have to spend up to one hour on the bus to get to work.
Sadly the situation in the United States is taking a bad turn. My city, Austin has now been declared to have the highest infection rate, although we don't have the largest number of cases, I think that would be Houston. The cause for that spike is said to be reopening the businesses too soon, on particular bars /pubs and restaurants with dining tables. Texas Arizona and California are all in dire straights as I write this post.
Also, I have received mixed news about my employment. My boss/proprietor of the business couldn't take the heat and has decided to sell the business, to a person who by providence or nativité decided to purchase all the shops in our former little franchise (about 4 stores in all). Luckily for me, all front of the house personnel get to keep their jobs, in my case that means this is the 4th time I've survived the business downsizing since 2016 (the business spilt first and one half was purchased by my current boss - the new owner will bring all of the shops back together again - presumably under a new name). Unfortunately all of the back of the house personnel lost their job, the whole lot, in order to concentrate production to a central plant, and have all the shops be pickup locations - efficiency, I believe is the reason. I don't know how much money I will earn starting on the 17th of this month, all I know is that I'm employed.
So.... I don't know how much disposable money I will have in the near future. I remain hopeful it'll be more than the reduced pay I've been living on for the last 3 months. But I just don't know. Unfortunately I have sunk quite a bit of effort and some money into the Victorian Boombox Mk III. But that is no excuse for not building a device that may very well save my life or that of others.
Consequently I'm going to slow (not stop) the Boombox project for now and rush into making the new mask while I still have a little money. The mask may also be a new source of work for me - I'm crazy like that, but I've done it before, so there's no reason not to try. Alright. Introduction aside, this is what the project will be: a faceplate which may include a hat in which filtered and cooled /heated air is circulated, most focusing on the face, and if possible the scalp, and the neck.
Why so ambitious? Because the summer conditions faced in the American Southwest are extreme. So are the conditions on the whole Northern half of the country during winter. Summer temperature rises above 35 Celsius and peaks near 45 C by August. People have to wear cloth and filtered masks in the heat, sweating profusely. Sweat will run down your face on to your eyes, through your mask into your nose and mouth and you will literally taste sweat laden with virus. This observation is made from experience at my job and running to catch the bus to go to my job.
The mask respirator I made before held brilliantly under those conditions, but I still suffer from sweat running down my eyes, and people can neither see my face or hear my speech clearly. A transparent visor could fix all of those problems, and serve to alleviate the heat or cold effects. The human head is the largest consumer /radiator of heat in the body, so it makes sense that cooling the head in summer and heating it in winter would be the most efficient way to help temperature regulation in the body. That's why people wear hats! Artificial climate has done away with the custom to wear hats for all occasions. As Steampunks we should know that.
My plan is roughly as follows; First, I will use a plastic helmet as a prototype first, which could later be transformed into a Stetson hat (favoured by the locals), a trilby, a top hat, a bowler and quite likely a pith helmet or pickelhaube. So this is a very versatile piece. Second, there will be a plastic visor for the face. The visor will be sealed in such a manner that it's airtight about the face, with filtered air inlets and outlets. You don't do anyone any favours if you protect yourself but by means of a valve or such you breathe your germs onto others - that is in fact the defining characteristic of Covid-19 over any long of application requiring a respirator, so 3M style masks are useless in the face of this requirement.
Third, if at all possible there will be air circulation above the scalp but that is not a major goal, same with the neck. Large arteries and veins run through the neck to feed the brain, and active cooling methods such as Peltier devices have been used in the past (eg The Sharper Image) to make "cooling scarves" aimed at extracting heat from the neck. Because of that I think that the best location for a cooling device would be the neck, with air tubing directed to the face shield. A unit with fans and filters could be worn around the neck.
Fourth, because of safety reasons you may not want to wear a battery around your neck. Presumably this would be a lithium ion rechargeable battery. The belt would probably be the best location. Using the belt and the neck to carry components of the device will keep the hat light enough to be comfortable.
So this is what I purchased today: The starting point is a $6 white 3M construction helmet and a $12 polycarbonate faceshield. O like these components because they're easily replaceable, and the faceshield is flexible and very clear.
The helmet can be transformed into any kind of hatThe faceshield or visor is attached to the visor of the helmet
And there will be a method to seal the very flexible faceshield around the cheeks and chin of the wearer

I don't know at what speed I will make progress. This is a prototyping process, same as the Boombox. Peltier devices by themselves seem inexpensive enough, especially since the minimum area to be cooled is just the human face. The single biggest obstacle will be the power supply, but I figure that if the "cooling scarf" could be run from a battery, so could one or two Peltier elements. I'm figuring the fan assembly to be some sort of cylinder on the back of the neck around the peltier device. Tubing will run to the faceshield, in a Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet fashion.
Let's see what it I can do. I'd like to have fun and turn it into some Steampunk hat while I'm at it... Any suggestions?
At remain at your service,
Adm. J. Wilhelm