Digital change management system for respirator filter cartridges

A system comprising:

• a respirator comprising a facepiece configured to form a sealed area over a nose and mouth of a user and an air blower coupled to the facepiece by a hose to supply air to the sealed area;
• a removable contaminant capture cartridge installed within the respirator and configured to remove contaminants from the air as the air passes through the contaminant capture cartridge,
• wherein the contaminant capture cartridge comprises an electronic chip encoding a digital change management policy (DCMP), the DCMP indicates a useful lifespan of the contaminant capture cartridge for a cartridge model number in a work environment, the electronic chip further comprises a first usage data, the first usage data comprises a cumulative amount of time that the air blower or a second air blower has been active while the contaminant capture cartridge is installed into the respirator or a second respirator;
• and
• a computing device configured to:
• (i) in response to detecting installation of the contaminant capture cartridge in the respirator, read from the electronic chip a first DCMP and the first usage data;
• (ii) when the first usage data indicates prior use of the contaminant capture cartridge, use the first DCMP read from the electronic chip and, during operation of the air blower, update the electronic chip on the usage data in periodic increments;
• iii) when the first usage data indicates no prior use of the contaminant capture cartridge, determine a DCMP for the contaminant capture cartridge based on the cartridge model number and the work environment, write the determined DCMP to the electronic chip, and initialize the electronic chip with the first usage data;
• and
• (iv) compare the first usage data to the DCMP and, in response to determining that a threshold portion of the useful lifespan has been expended, output an alert.