Testing out the Triton Full face respirator

This is one of many things I have been meaning to test and now that I am (hopefully temporarily) unable to stand and work in the shed I thought it would be a good time to do it at my electronics workbench. Basically I wanted to test the actual air flow of the Triton full face respirator.

For those that have not seen it before here is what it looks like.
Attachment 466458
The yellow pack at the end of the hose contains a 5 x 1.2V, 5000 mAh NiCd battery pack and small blower impeller. The pack is worn on a belt around the operators waist and it supplies air to the back of the helmet that then passes across the top of the operators head and spills down the operators face and exits at where the cloth cover ties loosely around the operators neck. The manufacturers rating for this unit is 5.3 CFM.

For filtration it has a coarse pre filter under the yellow box and the box also contains 2 x P2 standard Protector filter cartridges

What I was mainly interested was the performance of the blower so this was my setup.
TD is a 50 mm diam test duct
T is a Testo air flow meter with the probe inserted into the duct.

Attachment 466459

To explore things a bit more I added a DC socket and switch.
The socket is in parallel with the motor and a switch connects the socket to the motor when requires
Attachment 466460 Attachment 466461

The socket and switch enable me to drive the motor with an external power supply (or perhaps eventually a different battery pack) or I can connect the socket to a meter to read the remaining voltage of the internal battery pack.

The first thing I did was fully charge the batteries (they recommend 15 hours! during which it reached 6.57V) and test the air flow using the currently fitted (ie old) pre filter and P2 Cartridges. They both look clean and I would estimate both have had about 25 hours of use. I did lightly tap off any loose dust from the pre filter.
Using this setup I measure 4.0 CFM

Then I replaced the pre filter and the P2 Cartridges with new ones and measured 4.5 CFM

Then I upped the voltage to 7.4V (using an external DC power supply) as this would be the nominal V of a the Li-ion battery pack I was planning to use and I measured 4.9 CFM. I guess the manufacturers claimed 5.4 CFM is a bit like other DC flow claims. BTW I do get 5.4 CFM if I just hold the air flow meter in front of the outlet :oo: which is not the right way to measure the flow.

What I did find interesting was that the performance of the fan seemed to be fairly insensitive to the applied voltage.
This is good because it maintains the flow even when the batteries start to lose grunt.
I let the fan run continuously using the internal NiCd batteries and the V dropped from 6.57 to 6.43V in the first 10 minutes but the flow rate did not change appreciably ie stayed at ~4.5 CFM. Then running continuously over the next 120 minutes the V dropped to 6.18V and the flow rate dropped to ~4.3 CFM.

A normal adult male human lung has a total capacity about 6 L but typically for light work only about 2.5L of that is used and assuming a breath every say 4 seconds that would be 38 L/min or about 1.3 CFM
If the breath rate goes up to say every 3 seconds and a lung volume of say 4.5L is used then that works out to be 90L or 3.2 CFM

So it appears that even the ~4 CFM the respirator generates even with used filters is sufficient. Of course in very dusty situations it is possible for the filters to get really clogged , a small table tennis ball in a clear perspex tube is provide by the manufacturer to test the flow - I have no idea what the actual test flow is.

However these apparently safe airflows are only part of the story as this respirator does not dissipate heat al that well and I do get quite sweaty wearing it so I would like to have a greater air flow which is why I am exploring higher voltages. In an upcoming test I will up the input V and stick a thermocouple on the motor and see how hot it gets. I assume the air flow through the unit will provide some cooling.

This is very simplified:

A 'normal' adult breathing is pattern is 500ml x 12/min = around 6l/min (trust me, I'm an anaesthetist).

However, flow is not linear - both for inspiratory and expiratory flow.

It starts off very high, and slows - so you may be hitting 30-60 litres/min initially - it's just for a very brief part of the breath. It's that peak inspiratory flow demand that the device needs to meet. i.e. the real question is 'can the device supply an immediate demand of 1-2CFM'. (1cfm is around 30l/min)

It's the reason we use a bag in anaesthetic breathing circuits - that green blobby thing you see bouncing around in all the movie hospital scenes. We might set the oxygen flow at 6l/min to meet a patient's overall minute volume requirement, but the bag is a reservoir for those inspiratory periods where they need 30l/min. It's usually a 2l bag for an adult - enough to supply that brief high flow during normal-ish breathing.

Thanks Bernmc, good to see some numbers from someone with direct experience.

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Originally Posted by Bernmc

This is very simplified:
A 'normal' adult breathing is pattern is 500ml x 12/min = around 6l/min (trust me, I'm an anaesthetist).

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Is that for a patient under an anaesthetic??
I was thinking more of a WW working, not hard like running, but maybe moderate speed walking eg welding a power tool like a circular saw or heavy belt sander, or a bit more than this, like when using a Arbortech tool or an even heavier chainsaw.

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However, flow is not linear - both for inspiratory and expiratory flow.

It starts off very high, and slows - so you may be hitting 30-60 litres/min initially - it's just for a very brief part of the breath. It's that peak inspiratory flow demand that the device needs to meet. i.e. the real question is 'can the device supply an immediate demand of 1-2CFM'. (1cfm is around 30l/min)

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Sure I sort of took that into account and that's why I suggested 1-3 CFM was needed and yep, the triton respirator easily achieves this (~ 4 CFM) even with old (sort of cleaned) Filters.

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It's the reason we use a bag in anaesthetic breathing circuits - that green blobby thing you see bouncing around in all the movie hospital scenes. We might set the oxygen flow at 6l/min to meet a patient's overall minute volume requirement, but the bag is a reservoir for those inspiratory periods where they need 30l/min. It's usually a 2l bag for an adult - enough to supply that brief high flow during normal-ish breathing.

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The sealed fabric hood itself would act a bit like a bag but I have not observed it puff in or out even when I'm working with the chainsaw so it suggests that the flow is more than sufficient.

I'm convinced that if the filters are kept clean the air flow for excluding dust is more than sufficient, what I'm now chasing is more air flow to help cool my "hot head". Also I don't want to run the motor too hot as that might heat the air coming through the filters which would be counterproductive.

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Originally Posted by BobL

I'm convinced that if the filters are kept clean the air flow for excluding dust is more than sufficient, what I'm now chasing is more air flow to help cool my "hot head". Also I don't want to run the motor too hot as that might heat the air coming through the filters which would be counterproductive.

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I had one of these a long time ago. I had a look in the guts of the belt unit and (as you would expect at this price point) everything was the lowest spec. I'm sure you can buy far better motors to power this as a replacement. I would replace the NiCd batteries while I was at it. There are so many better options available today.

I agree Mark its a very basic unit but , for the number of times, and amount of time I use it, apart from me getting hot in some situations it works well enough.

I did a bit more of an investigation of the flow rates when varying the motor voltage using an external power supply.

6.5V (same as the 5 original NiCd batteries in series) generates 4.5 CFM with air temp coming out same temp at that going in
7.4V generates 4.8 CFM, also with air temp coming out same temp at that going in
8.0 V generates 5.2 CFM, air temp coming out ~1ºC above ambient
8.6 V generates 5.5 CFM, air temp coming out ~1.5ºC above ambient
I didn't really want to go much higher than this.

So no drastic improvements - the fact that the flow does not increase significantly with increase V is at least consistent in the fact that it doesn't decrease much with decreasing V. Its probably a reflection of the budget nature of the beast.

Anyway it seems that the 7.4V (same as 2 Li-Ion in series) will be OK even if it only provides a small improvement in air flow. Because I have an external power supply point I can still keep the existing batteries (they still seem to be up to original spec even after 12 years) inside the unit and provide alternate power from an external battery pack for a longer operating time.

very timely BobL, I had a seniors moment on Chrissy day and needed time away from family, into shed I go and for some unknown reason opened up a dirty dusty box that had been stored in a corner, buggame a Triton Full face respirator, just yesterday thought of it again and after being stored so long didnt think the batteries would be any good, guess this is another project to work on.

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Originally Posted by Tonyz

very timely BobL, I had a seniors moment on Chrissy day and needed time away from family, into shed I go and for some unknown reason opened up a dirty dusty box that had been stored in a corner, buggame a Triton Full face respirator, just yesterday thought of it again and after being stored so long didnt think the batteries would be any good, guess this is another project to work on.

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To find out if the batteries are any good, does your unit still have the testing tube?
Like this?

Attachment 466502

After charging the batteries for 15 hours! you place the tester over the opening of the blower and make sure the small ping pong ball is forced by the air flow to reach the inside black circle at the top of the tester. You have to make sure you hold the test tube firmly over the top of the opening.
Also make sure that you have decent enough gap under the battery pack when testing - if you place the base of the battery pack flat on a surface the air cannot get into it.

This picture shows the ball is not quite inside the circle but this is the flow after >3 hours of battery use. At full battery charge mine sits onside the bLack circle for about 2.5 hours.
Even if the ball is not quite inside the circle it still provide enough air flow for most situations.
Attachment 466503

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BobL

I did a bit more of an investigation of the flow rates when varying the motor voltage using an external power supply.
6.5V (same as the 5 original NiCd batteries in series) generates 4.5 CFM with air temp coming out same temp at that going in
7.4V generates 4.8 CFM, also with air temp coming out same temp at that going in
8.0 V generates 5.2 CFM, air temp coming out ~1ºC above ambient
8.6 V generates 5.5 CFM, air temp coming out ~1.5ºC above ambient
I didn't really want to go much higher than this.

So no drastic improvements - the fact that the flow does not increase significantly with increase V is at least consistent in the fact that it doesn't decrease much with decreasing V. Its probably a reflection of the budget nature of the beast.

Anyway it seems that the 7.4V (same as 2 Li-Ion in series) will be OK even if it only provides a small improvement in air flow. Because I have an external power supply point I can still keep the existing batteries (they still seem to be up to original spec even after 12 years) inside the unit and provide alternate power from an external battery pack for a longer operating time.

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I finally got around to assembling a Li-ion battery pack consisting of a pair of (18650 3.7V Li-ion) batteries in series, in turn in parallel with another two batteries in series.
Fully charged they initially produce 8.6V.

The initial flow obtained with this setup was 6.4 CFM which is greater than the 5.5 CFM shown above when using a Power supply on 8.6V. This was found to be due to a leak around the top seal of the battery pack/blower. After fixing the leak I tested it with the Power supply at 8.6V whereby it also produced 6.4 CFM.

The initial 8.6V produced by the battery pack drops slowly (over about 30 minutes) to the expected nominal voltage of 7.4V (which it retains for considerable time thereafter) where produces a flow of ~5.6 CFM which is quite acceptable.

I measured the flow rates with both my Testo and Kurz air flow meters and they produced air speed readings within spec, the Testo is usually slightly lower. I'm only measuring speeds at the centre of the test duct because the air speeds are very low (420 FPM)

Something also worth testing with these helmet setups is the respired CO2 buildup in the helmet. 4cfm is about the absolute lower limit of airflow for one of these - 6+ is preferred.

Personally I wouldn't use P2 filters - much better to use P3 filters - far greater filtration efficiency.

Hi,
A few asides from memory (IE no references)
One of the briefs for the design was it should cost half as much as the existing respirators on the market at the time.
After all the take overs and changes of manufacturer it was dropped as it did not comply with international standards.
I like mine.
For your info.

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Originally Posted by RSD

Something also worth testing with these helmet setups is the respired CO2 buildup in the helmet. 4cfm is about the absolute lower limit of airflow for one of these - 6+ is preferred. Personally I wouldn't use P2 filters - much better to use P3 filters - far greater filtration efficiency.

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At work we used air flow face shields powered by a 20+ CFM compressor and a waist band filter - we weren't running the full 20CFM, maybe only about 5 cfm, but we could crank up the flow if we needed to, especially when it got hot.

I originally bought the triton when I had a 2HP DC with 100mm ducting, and was sick of getting swamped in fine dust when I was ripping long pieces of dry timber on my TS. I also planned to use it when chainsaw milling dry wood. It worked OK for these tasks provided I did not have to exert myself and/or it was too hot a day when the airflow was just too low to keep me cool enough.

The more I used any mask the less I liked them and I solved the dust problem in my shed by going to a bigger/better DC. When CS milling problem I only milled on days when there was enough breeze so that it swept away the dust and exhaust fumes. On my latest mill I modified the exhaust so that the chip flow fell into the exhaust path and both the exhaust and chip blew away from the operator. On some setups I could start the mill and then go and sit down. Normally the sawdust falls at straight down so the operator working the chainsaw has to continually walk over it but this setup sprays it so far that this doesn't happened.

Attachment 472904

These days I usually only use the Triton for small jobs like tackling wasps nests, cleaning out grandpas shed and cutting the odd fibre cement sheet.

That is an awesome photo Bob [emoji4]