Emergency ventilator for COVID-19

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244963
• Publication Date: 2020-12-30T19:55:30Z
• Authors: William P. King; Jennifer Amos; Magdi Azer; Daniel Baker; Rashid Bashir; Catherine Best; Eliot Bethke; Stephen A. Boppart; Elisabeth Bralts; Ryan M. Corey; Rachael Dietkus; Gary Durack; Stefan Elbel; Greg Elliott; Jake Fava; Nigel Goldenfeld; Molly H. Goldstein; Courtney Hayes; Nicole Herndon; Shandra Jamison; Blake Johnson; Harley Johnson; Mark Johnson; John Kolaczynski; Tonghun Lee; Sergei Maslov; Davis J. McGregor; Derek Milner; Ralf Moller; Jonathan Mosley; Andy Musser; Max Newberger; David Null; Lucas O’Bryan; Michael Oelze; Jerry O’Leary; Alex Pagano; Michael Philpott; Brian Pianfetti; Alex Pille; Luca Pizzuto; Brian Ricconi; Marcello Rubessa; Sam Rylowicz; Clifford Shipley; Andrew C. Singer; Brian Stewart; Rachel Switzky; Sameh Tawfick; Matthew Wheeler; Karen White; Evan M. Widloski; Eric Wood; Charles Wood; Abigail R. Wooldr...
• Keywords: Personal Protective Equipment; Mechanical ventilator

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the world in 2020 by spreading at unprecedented rates and causing tens of thousands fatalities within a few months. number deaths dramatically increased regions where patients need hospital care exceeded availability care. Many experience Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), condition that can be treated with mechanical ventilation. In response to for ventilators, designed tested an emergency ventilator (EV) control patient's peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) breathing rate, while keeping positive end expiratory (PEEP). This article describes rapid design, prototyping, testing EV. development process was enabled design iterations using additive manufacturing (AM). initial phase, between AM, working prototype one week. designs 16 different components were locked additively total 283 parts having parametrically varied dimensions. second stage, AM used produce 75 functional prototypes support engineering evaluation animal testing. devices over more than two million cycles. We also developed electronic monitoring system automatic alarm provide safe operation, along training materials user guides. final are available online under free license. have been transferred 70 organizations 15 countries. project demonstrates potential ultra-fast product engineering, medical needed response.