Open Source Respirator and Low Cost Ventilator Efforts to Fight Coronavirus (COVID-19)

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Open Source Respirator Project

Mechanical Ventilator

NOTE: Nothing on this page is intended as medical advice. My only goal is to make information available so that people can get involved with co-innovation efforts and share resources that can be leveraged in crisis situations.

Calling all doctors, nurses, designers, engineers and designers…

Join one of the amazing Open Source Ventilator Projects to contribute your passion, creativity, time and expertise to help develop low-cost ventilators to fight the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Here are some ways of getting involved and some inspiration and some cheaper ventilator options:

  1. 13,000+ member Open Source Coronavirus Supplies group on Slack
  2. OPEN CALL closes 24 March at 9:00 GMT: Rapidly Manufactured Ventilated Systems
  3. March 19-20 University College London (UCL) Design & Refine Sprint Low Cost Ventilators — Register Now
  4. Ultimate Medical Hackathon
  5. Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies group on Facebook
  6. DIY Pandemic Ventilator (built during Avian Flu crisis and shared on Instructables)
  7. Story on OneBreath winning PopSci Innovation Award in 2010
  8. OneBreath company web site ($4,000 low cost respirator vs. $35,000 traditional solution)
  9. $500 pandemic ventilator from Canada
  10. Open Respirator Project on Github

Here is a video showing a DIY ventilator solution:

And here is a video from vacuum manufacturer Gtech in the United Kingdom (UK) showing a prototype they are working on to be entirely powered by the hospital oxygen supply in as simple a way as possible so they can hopefully meet the UK government’s call to make 30,000 ventilators in two weeks:

Just added another video highlighting an improvised design experiment the University of Minnesota is working on with some design partners:

The design team has made all of their designs shown in the University of Minnesota video – open source and available by clicking this REDDIT link

Here is an open source ventilator project out of Germany – The CORESPONSE – COvid19 RESPirator (Open Source):

Cost is about 75 Euros per unit and all of the details of this 3D printed open source project are available by clicking here.

Here is an article (click here) and a video detailing how to turn a snorkeling mask into a non-invasive ventilator:

AgVa Healthcare has produced a low cost ventilator starting at under $700 (according to the video) that leverages an app on the user’s smartphone to control its functions. Another great example of Indian ingenuity that was originally submitted as a comment on this article:

Below is a video from the Lemelson Foundation from 2015 that shares the story of how Matt Callaghan came to start OneBreath Ventilators to create lower cost ventilators for developing countries and the rest of the world after H1N1 Swine Flu never became a problem in the USA thanks to President Obama’s administration proactive steps to protect our country. (Learn more about the design process by reading this Stanford Byers Center for BioDesign article)

OneBreath Ventilator

UPDATE: Just found this video showing how to use one ventilator to save FOUR people – video from the United States’ Center for Disease Control (CDC) – all the details health professionals might need:

CAUTION, this from a doctor in Italy about risks of co-ventilating to be kept in mind as you group people to co-ventilate in a crisis situation:

“This is unfortunately not as good of an idea as it seems. In trauma and shootings, it’s one thing because lung compliance is unlikely to change quickly. However, in ARDS (and COVID19), we expect to have dramatic changes in lung compliance. When one patients lung compliance changes, there is a significant risk of underventilating the patient with lowest compliance and overventilating patients with highest compliance – both potentially deadly. I worry that instead of saving one person, you create a situation where you increase the odds of losing both (or all 4) patients“

BUT, according to Alexander Clarke you can solve this problem with flow restrictors…
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/25808-3d-printed-circuit-splitter-and-flow-restriction-d

Another article detailing previous research and considerations – https://www.saasceo.com/ventilator-capacity/

Vesper Prisma Health

VESper™ is a unique ventilator expansion device that allows a single ventilator to support up to four patients under emergency use authorization by the FDA during times of acute equipment shortages such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Hospitals can apply to receive the free source code and printing specifications for the device, produced using 3D printing technology, the device is developed with material already in use for medical devices and produced at minimal cost:

  • designed to work with ISO standard respiratory connections;
  • allows for appropriate filtering of bacteria and viruses in the ventilator tubing;
  • does not impact the care of other patients connected to the same machine.

SPECIAL BONUS for anyone facing a shortage of protective face shields.

See this article From Design to Mass 3D printing of Medical Shields in Three Days, below is a video highlighting the end result solution from this article:

OR looking for information on DIY hand sanitizer, masks, and protective clothing:

  1. DIY Masks (including comparison of materials)
  2. World Health Organization (WHO) Information on Protective Clothing
  3. World Health Organization (WHO) Information on DIY Hand Sanitizer
  4. WIRED – How to Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer

Here is a video showing how to make your own reusable elastomeric respirator (click here for instrutions poster):

And here is a video discussing whether people should wear face masks and how people can use DIY face masks without impacting availability of N95 and surgical masks to healthcare workers:

Here is a video showing how to make face masks to help healthcare workers:

AND here is a link to a PDF of the pattern to make the masks – https://courierpressblogs.com/pdf/howtomakeafacemask.pdf

Additional DIY mask videos can be found here – https://www.sewcanshe.com/blog/5-free-diy-face-mask-tutorials-using-fabric

Here is how to make a DIY Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) smock out of a garbage bag thanks to the people at Hefty:

DIY PPE

https://www.hefty.com/handy-hints/articles/diy-poncho-idea-how-to-make-a-trash-bag-raincoat

Doctors and Nurses in Spain and other countries are already having to do this.

And, here is a picture of an ingenious idea of using a headband and buttons to save the ears of healthcare workers from chafing of wearing a mask 13-14 hours a day. Thanks Natasha Smith!

Coronavirus mask and headband solution

And, here is an interesting article about a surgical and N95 mask design that uses salt to help kill viruses like Coronavirus (COVID-19) on masks to improve their effectiveness in protecting the wearer against getting sick

Coronavirus Salt Masks

If you know of other efforts working on creating low cost, quick to produce ventilators, please post as a comment!


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32 thoughts on “Open Source Respirator and Low Cost Ventilator Efforts to Fight Coronavirus (COVID-19)”

  1. Pete Foley

    I’d add a build. From what I understand, many patients may not need a ventilator, but do still need oxygen. Maybe we also need to think about increasing supply/reducing cost of oxygen concentrators as well. If we can get those into peoples homes, or triage centers, as needed, that could be quite helpful?

    Reply ↓
  2. admin

    Thanks to Andrew White for this FYI, from the UK Health Secretary:

    “Dear all. Thank you so much for your support these past few days.

    You may have seen the PM’s call for a National Effort for Ventilator production. We have been inundated with offers – which is wonderful.

    We are now triaging these offer through the BEIS Business Support helpline which people can reach on 0300 456 3565. A specific team receiving these calls will start at 10am tomorrow.”

    For more info: https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-health-secretary-calls-on-industry-to-switch-to-making-ventilators/

    Reply ↓
  3. Sarah Vandenberg

    New open innovation challenge from Massachusetts General Hospital: https://www.coventchallenge.com/

    From the website: “Founded by residents at Massachusetts General Hospital, the CoVent-19 Challenge will be a completely virtual open moonshot competition hosted on Slack to develop a rapidly deployable mechanical ventilation solution.”

    Reply ↓
  4. admin

    Thanks Sarah! For everyone else, please scour the internet for any videos, articles, and web sites highlighting low cost, DIY , or open source ventilators or respirators for coronavirus and share as a comment here (even if non-english) – we are facing global shortages and we can all help even in this small way. Thanks!

    Reply ↓
  9. admin

    From my friend Kate Hammer:

    UCL Healthcare Engineering has teamed up with Department for International Development (DFID) and other entities to develop low-cost ventilator technologies. The most immediate need is for participants with relevant, professional expertise as engineers, manufacturers, clinicians or intensive care technicians to join UCL Healthcare Engineering online for a Design & Refine Sprint on March 19 (Thurs) and March 20 (Fri). ***Online, virtual ***

    Matt Pattison, please can you share with the TEN network and your client networks?
    Professor Shafi Ahmed, can you share with available clinicians and intensive care technicians who *aren’t* exhausted on the frontline?
    Ben Hu, if the 8-hour time difference isn’t too onerous, could you join the design sprint? Or share with fellow anaesthesiologists who are on the East Coast of USA or in Europe?

    Everyone please share this post or make your own.

    https://lnkd.in/eygkUJN

    Reply ↓
  16. Bill Fienup

    mHUB has mobilize the broader Chicago tech community to develop proactive solutions to support with the Covid-19 effort. We have sent out an open call to our medical partners, local hospitals and greater community for problem statements and challenges around prototyping and manufacturing new technologies to support patient care, testing and worker safety. We have a couple open calls so far and have already put a team to develop a low cost ventilator.

    Reply ↓
  21. admin

    DRONES AVAILABLE:

    https://eva.xyz/services/

    We have drone stations with 20 drones each able to deliver healthcare, monitor cities, remind rules…available every week.

    This has a significant impact on flattening the curve and has proven to be successful.

    India, Portugal and Italy govs are already in contact with us.

    We can serve any other country like Spain, UK, France, Germany, Japan..

    Drones are from Manna in Ireland or ACSL in Japan and are hosted in the stations we build at EVA.

    First come first served. contact@eva.xyz

    Reply ↓
  22. admin

    Dyson in collaboration with The Technology Partnership (TTP) designed a new ventilator in 10 days and plans to make 15,000 in the next few weeks – 10,000 for the UK and 5,000 to donate to the international effort to combat the virus (1,000 for the UK and 4,000 for other countries).

    https://www.fastcompany.com/90481936/dyson-is-building-15000-ventilators-to-fight-covid-19

    Dyson is the famous maker of vacuum cleaners and more. For more information about TTP, go here – https://www.ttp.com/

    Reply ↓

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  32. Leonardo Zangrando

    Hi Braden,
    I designed and built this simple ventilator when I was worried that one family member could have caught COVID-19 and that there would not be enough resources in hospitals to take care for them. Fortunately at the end no-one caught COVID-19 at home, but I completed the prototype and a draft design anyways so that the project could be used in situations of extreme lack of resources. For this reason, the project does not involve any cool technology like 3D printing or laser cutting.
    I just created this github repository with a link to the plans and the code, tomorrow I will upload pictures and a video of the thing. https://github.com/lionzan/ventilator

    Reply ↓

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