As the death toll due to COVID-19 is soaring in India, and healthcare workers are working day in and out, a student start-up from Coimbatore realised the need to make ventilators at the earliest to help curb the crisis. JK Data Systems incubated at AIC Raise, supported by Atal Innovations Mission, NITI Aayog and students from Rathinam Group of Institutions, Coimbatore have developed a ventilator which would cost less than Rs 25,000!
Most of us are aware that ventilators are usually expensive and roughly cost more than Rs 10 lakh, but how is this team making it at this low price, we wondered. "Usually, ventilators have different mechanisms and is used for various purposes. But, taking COVID-19 into consideration, all we need is a support system for breathing as the worst part of the virus attack is breathing issues. Hence, we made this Intermittent Positive Pressure Breathing Ventilator (IPPV) which aids in breathing," says Ebin Ephrem Elavathingal, Senior Manager at AIC Raise who also spearheaded this project.
On March 22, Ebin and students of Rathinam Group of Institutions, Coimbatore, Karthik S and Gowtham Santhakumar started ideating the prototype. "We researched several open source projects available on the internet. After studying the subject for two days, we started working on a feasible prototype. In two days, our prototype was ready," shares Ebin, who is pursuing his PhD in Information and Communication Engineering.
Since the prototype was made during the lockdown period, we were obviously curious to know the making process as well. "We used the things available in our lab. We even used the keyboard tray of a PC," he laughs and adds, "Screws, pumps and so on were 3D printed in our lab."
Though they came up with a working prototype, they were doubtful about its efficiency. "We took it immediately to a doctor and showed him a demo. He gave a thumbs-up, and we immediately started working on the final model. In two to three days, the final product was ready," shares Ebin.
The team is trying to get the necessary license and test it at a private hospital in the city. "Once it is successfully tested, we are ready to mass manufacture it. With the available resources in our lab, we can produce about 100 ventilators per day," he avers and concludes, "The making process of our ventilator will be available on the internet as an open-source such that people can refer and start making them too."
