Simple Ventilators for Emergency Use Based on Bag-Valve Pressing Systems: Lessons Learned and Future Steps

• Published in: Applied sciences Vol. 10; no. 20; p. 7229
• Main Authors: Castro-Camus, Enrique, Ornik, Jan, Mach, Cornelius, Hernandez-Cardoso, Goretti, Savalia, Bhushan, Taiber, Jochen, Ruiz-Marquez, Armando, Kesper, Karl, Konde, Srumika, Sommer, Caroline, Wiener, Julian, Geisel, David, Hüppe, Franziska, Kräling, Gunter, Mross, Peter, Nguyen, Johnny, Wiesmann, Thomas, Beutel, Björn, Koch, Martin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 15-10-2020
• Subjects: Approximation; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Design and construction; emergency ventilator; Lungs; mechanical ventilator; Pandemics; Patients; Prototypes; Respiration; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Ventilators; Mexico
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app10207229

As part of a plethora of global efforts to minimize the negative effects of the SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) pandemic, we developed two different mechanisms that, after further development, could potentially be of use in the future in order to increase the capacity of ventilators with low-cost devices based on single-use-bag-valve mask systems. We describe the concept behind the devices and report a characterization of them. Finally, we make a description of the solved and unsolved challenges and propose a series of measures in order to better cope with future contingencies.