Low cost ventilator

[Pippin89]

So its not gun related, but as many of you know the NHS is currently facing a massive shortage of Ventilators. An estimated 8 million people will need ventilating (admittedly not all at the same time) with a current stock of 5000 ventilators in the UK.
So as a MechE, and my sister is an ICU nurse, we have teamed up to design a low cost, easy to manufacture ventilator. The current ones used are immensely sophisticated and cost £17k. I am estimating my design will cost about £30 in materials. Obviously it will be no where near as sophisticated, but will hopefully do a better job that nothing!
In Italy at the moment they have an age cap of 65 for people being ventilated.... if you're 66 and stop breathing, unfortunately you won't get the help you need.
So when the plans are complete and we have a working prototype I am going to make the plans freely available and ask that all manufacturing plants make whatever they can and send them to their local hospital.... They will, in no way, be a replacement for current ventilators, but they may just be enough for some patients!

Specialists are also working on a similar idea (I am in no way a specialist in this field, I design train suspension systems...) but from what I have heard, their designs still require specialist tooling and expertise to make, so making "millions" won't be possible. My plan is to design something anyone can put together!

I will keep you all updated with the progress...

[Ovenpaa]

Good wishes for this project, please keep us updated (Without giving too much away!)

[Blackstuff]

Haven't major manufacturers already been tasked with this though?

[1066]

I'm sure this could be done - I know there will be many doomsters and glass half empty types who say what about the insurance and can it be effectively sterilised etc. but if the choice is dying or taking a chance on a homemade set of bellows?

There are already several groups of very knowledgeable people trying to develop an "open Source" basic system.
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/12/ultimat ... entilator/

I think one of the problems will be oxygen supply - you can't just pop down to B&Q and pick up a cylinder or two.

I saw this yesterday - Today I hear the company who make these charge $11,000 for each valve and now trying to sue for patent infringement.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51911070

[1066]

Haven't major manufacturers already been tasked with this though?

Any official manufacturer will need to jump through so many hoops to make it "medically approved and certified" it will take many months before anything is widely available - we may only have a matter of weeks. Mass manufacture of a devise like would usually be farmed out to China which might be a problem at the moment.

[Pippin89]

Good wishes for this project, please keep us updated (Without giving too much away!)

Thank you! However, giving it away is the whole point so I won't be careful about what I am posting!

Haven't major manufacturers already been tasked with this though?

Any official manufacturer will need to jump through so many hoops to make it "medically approved and certified" it will take many months before anything is widely available - we may only have a matter of weeks. Mass manufacture of a devise like would usually be farmed out to China which might be a problem at the moment.

As I said they are already doing something similar... However, I have heard through the grapevine that it is still a £3k+ unit and requires specialist mouldings that not anyone can pick up a drawing and make. So they aren't going to get anywhere near the (potentially) millions of required units.
My aim is to give an alternative, much cheaper option, which can be used as a last ditch attempt should the SHTF...

[snayperskaya]

My aim is to give an alternative, much cheaper option, which can be used as a last ditch attempt should the SHTF...

I think there is already a Sh-t/Fan interface, especially in places like Italy, it's more a question of how much sh-ttier is the fan going to get........

[Plumose]

For testing (and potentially use) welding oxygen isn't that hard to get hold of.
I know divers used to use it to mix breathing gases even though it wasn't officially certified for breathing

[TRG-22]

I think one of the problems will be oxygen supply - you can't just pop down to B&Q and pick up a cylinder or two.

Perhaps someone should get working on a low-cost/DIY oxygen concentrator. If you strip out all of the alarms and gauges and precise flow control would the basics be pretty simple?

[1066]

For testing (and potentially use) welding oxygen isn't that hard to get hold of.
I know divers used to use it to mix breathing gases even though it wasn't officially certified for breathing

Pretty sure it's exactly the same stuff, made in the same place in the same way - The only difference (I believe) is the certified paper trail for the cylinders.

Just the same for something like bolts for a small aero engine. Four HT bolts for about £6 from engineering supplies, exactly the same bolts but in a little cloth bag with a CAA number and they're about £40.