MISSION STATEMENT
BREATHNEY is an R&D-project to duplicate full functionality of a medical ventilator, with the needed accuracy, robustness and reliability, while selecting only parts that can be quickly sourced in large volume from non-medical industrial sectors.
The goal is a redesign-from-scratch of an existing technology for mass rapid manufacture.
HISTORY
This project was started on March 17th by a small group of engineers at Fablab Brussels as a 4-day rush to replicate the MIT-ambubag concept:
http://web.mit.edu/2.75/projects/DMD_2010_Al_Husseini.pdf
We based our spec list initially on the specifications needed for a ventilator for ADRS-patients, written by Julian Botta, Johns Hopkins Hospital:
Specifications for simple open source mechanical ventilator Public
We have benefitted from advice from UZ Brussel as well as Industry.
This project has grown into a 50+ team, non-profit effort to develop a rapid-manufacturable, open-source ventilator for COVID-19.
The team currently consists out of mechanical & electronic engineers, a doctor-on-site, medical advisors, a group of programmers & reinforcement from experienced R&D-engineers from Flanders Make.
FEATURES
Beta Series 1, as of April 4th, features:
- accurate pressure & volume control
- p-, V- and flow-graphs in a graphical interface
- redundant pressure sensors
- pressure control mode, volume control mode
- full user-configurable pressure curve (Ppeak, Passist, RR, IE, ramp)
- breathing detection & breathing assist mode
- alarms on configurable error ranges for achieved pressures and volumes
- battery backup
- a mature & robust pump design that can be rapidly manufactured from laser-cut aluminium sheets
- a pump design with sufficient power that has no issues achieving the highest pressures, volumes and respiratory rates specified in the MHRA emergency certification requirements.
- an electronics architecture where the main microcontroller and the connected PC each act as each others watchdog and give an alarm when the other one stops working.
- possibility to enable remote monitoring of multiple machines
Prototype 7 – April 2nd
