#INV010 Designing a Portable low-cost, Patient Ventilator System.

This project describes the design and prototyping of a low-cost portable patient ventilator for use in mass casualty cases and resource-poor environments. The ventilator delivers breaths by compressing a conventional bag-valve mask (BVM) with a pivoting cam arm, eliminating the need for a human operator for the BVM. It is driven by an electric servo motor powered by a 5 VDC and features an adjustable tidal volume up to a maximum of 750 ml. Tidal volume and number of breaths per minute are set via user-friendly input knobs. The prototype also features an assist-control mode and an alarm to indicate over pressurization of the system.Through this prototype, the strategy of cam-actuated BVM compression is proven to be a viable option to achieve low-cost, low-power portable ventilator technology that provides essential ventilator features at a fraction of the cost of existing technology.

Designing a Portable low-cost, Patient Ventilator System.