PORTUGUESE COMPANY TESTS CERN MASKS

ISQ is supporting CERN, the world's largest Particle Physics Laboratory, located in Switzerland, with consulting and testing of the semi-filter mask that this laboratory is developing. The services are provided in the framework of the recommendations proposed by the European Union (EU 2020/403 of 13 March 2020), and in accordance with international conformity assessment and market surveillance procedures in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic. "This is the realization of consulting and testing services for the development of an individual protection mask to be used by CERN employees in a collective and non-clinical environment," says Rodrigo Pascoal, isresponsible for monitoring projects with CERN or ITER in the area of nuclear fusion. "Filter masks are subjected to tests provided for in EN 149:2001+A1:2019, namely visual inspection tests, conditioned temperature, simulated wear, performance test, flammability, CO2 test, breath resistance, filtration efficiency and differential pressure," says André Mendes, Automotive Testin & Process Engineering | LABAUTO | Directorate LABORATORIES ISQ. According to European standards, it is essential that these PPE (personal protective equipment) are checked by a certifying body, which guarantees their safety and protection against coronavirus. Testing PPE allows not only to minimize the effects of SARS Cov-2 in a work environment, but also to facilitate and accelerate the use of these equipments developed by CERN. "As part of the mask compliance analysis in general, ISQ is supporting the national and international industry in accordance with the technical specifications of the Directorate-General for Health and Infarmed, I.P.", adds André Mendes. According to Pedro Matias, President of ISQ, "this shows the enormous capacity of the national industry and in particular portuguese companies to rise in the value chain and provide value-added services anywhere in the world and to reference entities at the international level, such as CERN, the largest particle accelerator." It should be remembered that ISQ has been cern's partner for several years, having been involved in the provision of consulting services, inspections and testing in the construction phase of the LHC – The Large Hadron Collider, the largest particle accelerator and the world's largest energy accelerator, with 27km, crossing the Franco-Swiss border. "The LHC is a true scientific odissection because it aims to expand humanity's knowledge of the world and the universe and answer questions such as "what is matter?", "what is it made of?", "what is its origin?", "how does it remain united forming objects as complex as stars, planets, air?" concludes Pedro Matias. The LHC participated in 26 ISQ engineers and inspectors, qualified in various specialties, having performed more than 200,000 hours of inspection and testing. In the coming years CERN (in which several European countries participate) plans to build a circular particle accelerator four times larger and ten times more powerful than the LHC. This is the FCC – Future Circular Collider, with about 100km and an energy up to 100 TeV [tera-electron-volts, unit of energy measurement). A project involved in 1300 people from 150 universities, research centres, industrial partners, with the support of the European Commission. The estimated cost to the FCC is €15 billion, with its completion expected by 2050. Europe is therefore at the forefront of this sector. ISQ integrates a network of 16 accredited laboratories and offers a diverse range of services to industry, health, commerce, services and public entities that need to ensure that your facilities, equipment and products meet quality and safety requirements and comply with applicable legislation, standards and guidelines.