Thermal Performance of the Heat Pipe and Thermoelectric Sterilization Face Mask

The spread of the coronavirus has been the focus the world's attention. The government has issued a new regulation on the coronavirus that obligates the entire community to always wear a face mask and implement social distancing to prevent the spread of viruses. These issues have been impacted by an increase in the use of face masks throughout the world and in Indonesia. Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) suggested using medical face masks. Furthermore, in the health care sector, the possible loading of pathogens in sub-micrometer sizes and properties such as splash resistance and the ability to prevent infection by reducing the concentration of inhaled particulates has created limitations on the types of face masks that can be used. Therefore it is necessary to design a face mask sterilizer device that can extend the life span of masks, thereby decreasing the masks consumption. An investigation on mask sterilizer devices based on heat pipes and thermoelectrics was conducted in this study. The objective of this study was to investigate the thermal performance of the mask sterilizer device. The method used was an experimental method using variations in the input voltage on the thermoelectric, namely 9 V, 10 V, and 11 V, and the microcontroller was also adjusted to control the temperature by 70 ℃, 80 ℃, and 90 ℃. The results showed that the thermoelectrics can generate heat with a temperature difference between the hot side and the cold side that can reach 80.11 ℃. In terms of voltage, the greater voltage that was given led to a greater resulting temperature of the sterilization device and reduced the amount of time to achieve the minimum sterilization temperature.