MIT Engineers Share The Design Of Cheap Ventilator That Anyone Can Make

The whole world has been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak, especially the medical industry. The significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases has led to a shortage of medical supplies including masks, hand sanitizers, and face shields everywhere in the world. But what worse is the shortage of ventilators that are much needed for severe patients.

Severe COVID-19 patients can’t breathe on their owns. They need ventilators to be able to breathe. But with more and more confirmed cases, hospitals are running out of this medical equipment.

However, a team of MIT engineers has created an open-sourced ventilator costing only Rs 7,000, which is a fraction of the normal cost of ventilators.

Called E-Vent, the ventilator is based on a project from a long time ago. The project actually belonged to the MIT Precision Machine Design course. A conventional ventilator has mechanical parts pushing the air through the windpipes. But with E-Vent, the approach is slightly different.

It uses an Ambu bag used in emergency situations when there is no ventilator. With the Ambu bag, a medical practitioner has to use their hands to squeeze the bad to push the air into the patient’s lungs. With E-Vent, this Ambu bag is used. And in order to squeeze the bag, the engineers attached paddles to a mechanical motor.

In a crisis like this, MIT engineers decided to bring back the project. Not only that, but they also modified the invention to make it last longer and easier to operate using a metal frame.

While anyone can make E-Vent with its simple design, the engineers recommend clinical engineers to create it and only use the device under the monitor of a medical practitioner.

A team member said that they were waiting for feedback and approval from the FDA about the project.

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