ICU Ventilators for COVID-19: Design and Manufacturing Challenge

We have a solution!

Please download the specification and join the working team in Round 2 of the Mechanical Ventilators for COVID-19 Challenge. Due to the current pandemic caused by the fast-spreading of the COVID-19, there is an urgent need for ICU ventilators for the most serious cases. Can you come up with a low-cost, easy-to-build ventilator for hospitals in need? Join the challenge (click on the button below), register, and download the complete description of this competition. We need to act fast, the deadline for submissions is the 25th of March, 2020.

Summary of the Manufacturing ICU Ventilators Challenge

 Following the progression of the COVID-19, the number of infected patients grows in many countries so fast it doubles every 3 days. Since 20% of them are hospitalized and 5% need admission in an ICU, the demand for ventilators is extremely high. No healthcare system is prepared for such high demand, so the rapid manufacturing of ventilators for hospitals everywhere is rather urgent. Current ventilator models are complex and costly, and the number of manufacturers is limited. Therefore, it is not possible to supply the needed amount in the short-term. Multiple initiatives have been kicked off globally as an attempt to solve this challenge. Their common goal is, within their reach, to come up with a complete or partial solution that may help. In this sense, minimum requirements have been set in order for the ventilators to work properly on a COVID-19 patient. Even though there are different criteria out there, we only provide you with one approach that can be accessed in the challenge's full description. In addition, we suggest taking a look at other global initiatives to come up with ventilators to treat COVID-19.

What hospitals need

To achieve low-cost,  easy-to-build ICU ventilators, the best approach for us is, according to our experience with this community and the challenges we usually release, is to try and obtain the fastest manufacturing possible:

• • Through the adaptation of standard industrial components, widely used. 
  • Or through other everyday-life objects whose availability is fast, easy, and universal. 

There are multiple ICU ventilator models, both industrial and university designs and prototypes. ennomotive believes it would be quicker to focus on some of them and observe the quickest way to manufacture it, making the necessary modifications and adaptations.

Evaluation Criteria

Solutions will be evaluated by the participants following these evaluation criteria, in this order of importance:

• Comply with the minimum requirements
• Reliability of the ventilator
• Easy to build
• Component availability
• Low cost
• Easy to clean/sterilize

Timeline

1st round – 1 week (25th of March) + 1 week for evaluation by participants (1st of April) Solutions and results will be published right after, and a new round may be open to work on improvements and fund functional prototypes.

Prize

The goal of this challenge is to make a contribution to humanity in these trying times. There will be no cash prize. However, ennomotive will fund the building of the best prototypes for the next round.

Terms

• All the solutions submitted for this challenge will be open to the public.
• Once the deadline is reached, the solutions will be visible to other participants, who will evaluate them to help pick the best ones.
• New rounds may be open to progressively improve the ICU ventilator model and request the prototypes.

Participate in the challenge