A simple and cheap aerosol penetrometer for filter testing using an electronic cigarette.

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic face masks grew in importance as their use by general population was recommended health officials order to minimize risk of infection and prevent further spread virus. To ensure protection medical personal other system relevant staff, it is considerable interest quickly test if a certain lot filtering facepiece meets requirements or permeability changes under different conditions. As certified penetrometers are rather expensive were difficult obtain during COVID-19 pandemic, we describe two quite simple cheap methods filter based on an electronic cigarette. Methods: The first method uses precision scale, second light scattering detector measure penetration. make sure these yield reliable results, both tested with freshly cut samples covering range approx. 2 % 60 compared results penetrometer. Results: comparison penetrometer showed good correlation therefore allow quick estimation permeability. Conclusions: Several examples about faulty resulting risks show that simple, fast, broadly available for characterization might be useful days.