World's cheapest and smallest ventilator....

Here is an article dated Jan 23, 2018 revealing a very cheap and small ventilator made in India by a neurosurgeon Dr Deepak Agrawal and a robotics scientist Professor Diwakar Vaish.

World's Cheapest and Smallest Ventilator Made in India

This 2018 innovation has come very handy in the present coronavirus crisis in India.

Toaster-sized ventilator from India helps hospitals in virus fight

Priced at around $2,000, the AgVa ventilator is a fraction of the price of conventional ventilators, which go for more than $10,000.

Hopefully, innovative such ventilators can be created around the world by engineers and even vastly improved upon, through the study of this model, which is cheap, small, portable and can be used in homes as well. This can perhaps go a long way in compensating for the shortage of ventilators around the world at this time.

 

Their is a device called microvent that works through a fitted mask to aid respiration. It works similarly to a bag mask, but is powered entirely by a regulated supply of oxygen from a cylinder and has no electrical requirement. It was developed for use in ambulances, but with a little modification it could be run from piped oxygen in hospitals. Since it does not require intubation and has no method of sucking fluid from the lungs, it's use would be very limited, I believe that they cost the NHS around £500.
Their are probably dozens of them lying around and hundreds more in ambulances that don't require them. As we have seen with PPE, much of the problem with the NHS is logistics. This is made worse by every regional authority having it's own buying department and using different suppliers. Wrongly ordered items are frequently shoved to the back of the stores and left there until they go out of date. The whole system is a shambles.

 

I talked to someone that was on ventalator many years ago and he said it was a bitch when the timing was off when you are still wanting to breath out but the thing says time to push air in.

They probably have that solved even with a cheap one though modern electronics.

 

Yeah, there is obviously a lot of equipment lying around which can be improvised to meet present needs creatively, in view of the critical shortage of medical supplies in most countries.

I remember reading an article in the past of some student researchers winning a medical research prize after adapting and improvising new kitchen technologies for medical purposes creatively in field hospitals. This was found to be both efficient and cost-effective.

The opthamalogist Charles Kelman introduced phacoemulsification in 1967 after being inspired by his dentist's ultrasonic probe. Phacoemulsification is now the standard surgical technique used today in cataract surgery. It removed the need for an extended hospital stay and made the surgery less painful.

Also existing medical research papers and technical literature may perhaps have the necessary medication formulas and technologies needed to deal with the issue at hand, and they need to be scrutinised as well, so that there would be no need to reinvent the wheel again with expenditure of valuable time, energy and resources.

I think if a fraction of the world defence budget was spent in medical research and technology, disease could have been conquered by now.

Because of a weak UN, the world continues to be fragmented and dissipating its energies on petty conflicts and wars, instead of for creative purposes as in medical research, exploration of ocean depths or space.

 

Thank you for your reply, logistics and approval for particular use is always a problem.
Many discoveries are accidental.
Perhaps the best example was back when I was working in TAVI cardiology (Trans catheter Aortic Valve Implant). Due to it's short prognosis, surgeons waiting for donor organs were using VAD, (ventricular assist device) as a bridge, to keep the patient alive. This small self powered pump. bypassed the left side of the heart to maintain blood to the brain and vital organs. It's internal battery lasted for 6 weeks. On one occasion, due yo the lack of suitable donor heart, the VAD needed to be replaced. To everyone's surprise, The 6 week rest had allowed the degenerated heart muscles to heal to the extent that after clearing the aortic valve (which had caused the muscles to overwork in the first place), Neither the replacement VAD or further surgery was required. At the time, due to it's rare use and vast development cost, a VAD cost £60,000, but increased demand has dropped the price
TAVI has now increased in prognosis from 5 to 25 years. The early problem was that rejection tissue blocked the capillaries leading from the Aorta at the top of the heart that feed the heart muscles. The latest design by Medtronics has a titanium cage above the synthetic valve that expands and protects the capillaries. At the same time, this reduces the post procedure permanent cocktail of anticoagulants to 80mg of aspirin per day, thus reducing the risk of aneurysm and hemorrhage.

 

These things remind me of the CPAP machines one uses for sleep apnea. An over-priced hotplate and blow-dryer. The outfit selling these told me mine would be $2500 and my response was somewhat terse, I guess. I told them I could build an adjustable one for less than $100 from new parts and probably for less than $20 with used stuff without sacrificing function. The rest of what I said, after all the agravation they put me through dilly-dallying around, is unfit to put here.

My idea is that a small pressure sensor could be used to trigger inhale and exhale mode on one of these. Such sensors don't cost much that I'm aware of. The high price of commercial units is what I expect when insurance companies are allowed to be involved. Like government, they seem to ruin everything they involve themselves in.

RANT MODE disengaged....

 

I read this thread as "World's cheapest and smallest vibrator"........Speaks volumes on my track of mind!

 

Yes, Nice thread. Good information thank you