Oxygen — who knew this would become such a precious commodity during the ongoing pandemic. This is not a rhetorical question, because one innovator might not have preempted it but he surely started working on the problem in January 2021 itself — the problem being the oxygen crisis. "It was not peak COVID time yet, but in my hometown Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh), the problem had started to simmer," explains 22-year-old Rupesh Mahore. And where there is a problem, you'll always find an entrepreneur applying his mind to it.
This is where the research began. Rupesh and his brother Gunendra Mahore (21) started reading journals and research papers on COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases). Consider this: A patient who is on oxygen therapy is supplied oxygen 24x7. The reality is, while exhaling, the patient doesn't need oxygen. During inhalation as well, the amount of oxygen inhaled with every breath varies. This non-linear pattern of breathing was confirmed by not only the journals and research papers they consumed, but also by doctors at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, JIPMER and other medical students. On the basis of this, they devised Oxyserve.
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And that is how respiratory, flow, ECG sensors coupled with oximeter modules and a flow control valve came together to form Oxyserve, which uses the principles of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) flux control. "This device took us four months to build and can save upto 60% of oxygen," informs the youngster who is pursuing a five-year Integrated MSc in Physics course from NIT Rourkela and is currently in his fifth year. What Oxyserve efficiently does is instructs the respiratory sensor to check the respiration rate and accordingly, the algorithm, which works on SpO2 levels (oxygen saturation) and oxygen flow, enables the release of only that much oxygen during inhalation and during exhalation, the oxygen flow stops momentarily. And that's how it conserves oxygen. "The various doctors we sent the preliminary design to attested that this device could actually work for mild to moderate cases of COVID," he informs. Even if the device or the sensors fail, the last thing it will do is relay all the dynamic data parameters via its WiFi module in the microcontroller to the dashboard.
Rupesh and Gunendra, who pursued his Mechanical Engineering from Madhav Institute of Technology and Science, Gwalior, submitted their work as a research paper at ICRTST-21 conference last month, which got accepted after a few minor changes. They even received a pre-incubation offer from Foundation for Technology & Business Incubation (FTBI), NIT Rourkela's incubator.
"Procuring the parts was never the issue, the issue continues to be testing the device. We have already done simulations with the help of software for proof of concept, but need to go further into clinical trials," shares Rupesh who also runs a SpaceTech start-up called Spacegrade Inc.
