Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly challenged the world in many ways especially for the medical sector. One of the most important challenge is the shortage of ventilators for COVID-19 treatment. In 2020, nearly one hundred million people have been infected globally, where at least ten percent of the patients may develop severe respiratory distress that require ventilators for treatment. Since conventional ventilators are high-end medical equipment not commonly used, the stock numbers are insufficient as cases surge. Such a shortage is even severer in underdeveloped countries where millions of people need to share a single ventilator. Existing ventilators are not designed for handling the pandemic especially in third-world countries.

We present our solution to this challenge by developing a low-cost portable ventilator with three main highlights. First, with $300 target budget, the system can be produced in large quantities for use at temporary mobile cabin hospitals. Second, a patient monitoring system for blood oxygen and electrocardiogram are included with wireless alarms to notify doctors in case of emergency. Third, the exhaled air will be disinfected by specialized filter to reduce the risk of cross infection. The assembled prototype is currently capable of supplying oxygen to normal adults with a lung capacity of 6000 ml. Additional work on improving the portability of the design with battery operation is also planned. We hope this affordable open-source design can help underdeveloped countries overcome the current challenges and be better prepared for future pandemic crisis.