HACKER Q&A
📣 jbms

Is anyone working on open source DIY artificial ventilators/respirators?


There's a possibility the spread of COVID-19 leads to a lot of people needing help to breathe and not enough equipment.

Is anyone working on easy-to-build DIY versions?

What are the requirements?

- Made of ubiquitous simple components

- Provides "clean" air

- What flow rate?

- What cadence?

- What feedback mechanisms? Can it (or an operator) close the loop with cheap fingertip O2 sensors?

What's the starting point - designs from the 1800s/1900s?

  👤 foxyv Accepted Answer ✓
Lot of stuff that can go wrong with ventilator patients:

- Blood pressure from intrathoracic pressure caused by ventilation. - Sedation and pain from ventilation - Obstruction of airway - Removal of airway secretions - Arterial Blood Gas checks (Blood Ph, Oxygenation, CO2 levels) - Secondary infection due to ventilation

https://www.nursingcenter.com/clinical-resources/nursing-poc...

👤 ankalagon
Stealing a comment I saw the other day in a thread where a open source ventilator was shown, if you need a ventilator you'd need intensive care as well.
👤 VectorLock
I wonder if CPAP/BiPAP machines can be software hacked into ventilators. Some BiPAP models are almost identical to those labeled as "ventilators."