ANTIFOGGING

Antifog Solutions for Blast Protection Visors

Project Driver:

Blast protection visors are an important part of the protective armour used by deminers in the manual detection and clearance of land mines.

The problem of condensation on the inner skin of the visor arises under the usual climatic conditions. This reduces visibility and can thus create a relatively more dangerous situation for the deminer.

Although there are a number of products on the market, demining organisations that primarily operate in remote regions of the third world do not have access to these. We thus undertook to the investigate the best means of providing anti-fog treatment under those circumstances.

Product Range:

Five different products were tested. These were:

• AquaSeal Super SeaDrops
• AquaSeal SeaIce
• Protector Safety Aerosol Lens Cleaner Antifog Solution
• Protector Safety Pro-wipe Lens Cleaner Antifog Wet-wipe
• Potato Juice

Application & Testing:

For maximum effectiveness all products had to be applied so that a film of the solution covered the surface. Light applications do not work nearly as well.

AquaSeal Super Sea Drops

Apply a few drops of AquaSeal Sea Drops to the surface and rub all over. Wait approximately 10 seconds then polish with a soft cloth until the surface becomes clear.

AquaSeal SeaIce

SeaIce is applied according to the instructions. Use a damp cloth or finger rub the solid anti-fog preparation then rub onto the visor. When dry, polish with a dry cloth

Protector Safety Aerosol Lens Cleaner Antifog Solution

The Aerosol Lens Cleaner is sprayed onto the visor then wiped off with a soft cloth.

Potato Juice

The potato juice was trialled based on an is easiest applied by cutting a slice off a raw potato then rubbing the potato onto the visor, making sure that an even coverage of the juice is achieved. Then wipe with a soft cloth to remove any flesh and excess juice from the visor.

Protector Safety Pro-wipe Lens Cleaner Antifog Wet-wipe

For Pro-wipe Wet-wipes, polish the visor with the cloth then allow to dry. An even film of solution cannot be produced from these wipes, which reduces the effectiveness.

Summary of Performance:

The anti-fog preparation that offered the best performance was a commercial preparation called AquaSeal Super SeaDrops., provided that a generous quantity is applied.. It was the only product to completely protect against fog under all conditions.

The Aerosol Lens Cleaner Antifog Solution is quite usable and works well to reduce fogging, though not as well as the AquaSeal Super SeaDrops.

SeaIce appears to be a solid form of the SeaDrops. It is not as effective as the SeaDrops, mainly because it is more difficult to apply a good coverage of the solution to the visor.

The fourth best solution was the potato, which again needs to be applied generously for maximum effectiveness. Potato juice is quite an effective short term inexpensive solution.

The Pro-wipe wet-wipes were the least effective and sometimes made the problem worse than it would normally be because the fog did not evaporate as quickly as it otherwise would.

Further Work:

Field trials are required to ascertain the effectiveness of the products under field conditions and how long an application lasts. This is currently underway in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Under field conditions one of the less effective, but cheaper products may prove adequate.

Supply:

(All prices are in Australian dollars ex. tax)
 

Product:

Pro-Wipe Lens Cleaner Anti-fog Wet Wipe

Manufacturer:

Klear as Krystal
Melbourne, Australia
Ph: +61 3 9569 7879

Supplier (Australia):

Protector Safety Pty Ltd.
137 McCredie Rd.
Guilford NSW 2161

Also Centron, tel +613 9509 7879, fax 9569 9312 (John Brady)

Price:

A$76.67 for box of 300 (in 1998)

Product:

AquaSeal SeaDrops and SeaIce

Manufacturer:

McNett Outdoor
Bellingham WA 98227
USA

Supplier (Australia):

Cape Byron Imports
17 Centenial Circuit
Byron Bay 2481
Australia

Price:

SeaDrops - A$2.71 for 36.9ml
SeaIce - A$3.16 for 7.1g

Product:

Protector Lens Cleaner Anti-fog solution, 150g aerosol can

Manufacturer:

Protector Safety Pty Ltd.

Supplier (Australia):

Protector Safety Pty Ltd.
137 McCredie Rd.
Guilford NSW 2161
Australia

Price:

A$3.32 for a 150g aerosol can

Product:

Potato - readily available around the world.

Copyright reserved © 1998 UWA Demining Project
Author: Brian McLean

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All graphics by Demining Research Team. Aug 1998.
Last modified: 10:01:55 Wed 23 Sept 1998 by Brian McLean