Open Source Respirators & Ventilators

Open Source Respirators & Ventilators - open-source assistive technology prototype by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) community

About this project

This design was created by the talented makers of the TOM:Mexico community. For more details and full information please see the resource section below. Please see - https://makersmexico.org/ventmex/

The challenge

It turned out many teams worldwide published open-source ventilators, but none was ready to make and build easily or with all the details, pass local government emergency tests, and really be built out of the box with not only basic functionalities, but some needed by emergency doctors all over the world; it seemed many teams just rushed to publish something for the sake of being the first, especially universities in the US and abroad, but truly with a lot of things to be done still and some designs not even worked as instructed. The team’s challenge was to take in many designs and try to make them work, but immediately it seemed better to make a new design with the best of what the team learned as they tried to build many, and make sure available parts all over the world and the design and its components, could be sourced almost anywhere.

Who it helps

TOM:México is the country chapter of TOM Global. A group of designers, engineers, and makers from the local chapter got together early on March 2020 to try to manufacture a good emergency ventilator that was open source due to the worldwide shortage, and especially in Mexico, which had at the moment a need for 20,000-50,000 ventilator shortage at the time predictions started to come in.

How it works

Product specs -

Approximate cost: $476 USD

Time required: 1 day (after all of the parts are available)

The VentMex is an Emergency Respirator in case of a ventilator shortage in COVID-19 or any other scenario. It should be only used in emergencies and has 2 modes of Assisted Control:

Volume Control (RR, I/E and Tidal Volume controls), and Pressure Assisted Control (help patients if breath is not detected), sometimes known as Assisted Control as a unique name.

The main parts of the device are as followed:

3D Printed Parts: Most of the parts are available for 3D Printing and can be easily modeled to be manufactured in a more scalable way

1 Steel Sheet cut as plans show, to hold the motor and the whole ventilator itself, it also acts as a three-way chamber barrier to keep it water-resistant as specs need them to be.

Electronics: Most electronic parts are available in any electronic store, including Amazon. The only thing the team-built custom was an Arduino Shield (VentMex Shield) to be plugged in and make connections easier, and file to fabricate PCB is included as well.

Mechanical: All calculations are on the site, but everything comes in with a Stepper Motor and a high current driver, also available in the Electronics BOM

Software: Software and files are all posted in a public Git @ GitHub. Links included.

All the design, tests and comments can be found directly at the project's website

To find more information and follow future updates, take a look at the project website here.

Project details

The build files for Open Source Respirators & Ventilators are free to download from this page - open source, shared by TOM: Tikkun Olam Makers.

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