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果冻影院 engineers develop COVID-19 breathing aid in just four days
Engineers from 果冻影院 team up with clinicians and innovation specialists to develop new breathing aid for sick COVID-19 patients in record time.
5 November 2021
In the middle of March 2020, the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital with respiratory problems聽began聽rising聽rapidly.听Official guidance recommended early mechanical ventilation, but there was little hope of manufacturing enough of these complicated machines in time. 鈥�
Clinicians at聽果冻影院 Hospitals (果冻影院H)聽realised the need for an alternative: a聽less invasive breathing aid,鈥痗alled a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device.鈥�
CPAPs聽work with a聽close fitting聽face mask, and avoid the need for sedation and intubation聽(inserting a tube).鈥疊ut 果冻影院H had very few of聽these, and聽were unable to buy them in bulk as the model was no longer produced.听
So,聽working with engineers at 果冻影院鈥檚 Mechanical Engineering department聽and Mercedes AMG HPP,聽who were already collaborating on other projects,聽they聽jointly聽set about reverse engineering their own CPAP device. Within just four days,聽they arrived at a working prototype called the 果冻影院-Ventura. They聽gained鈥痑pproval from the UK鈥檚 Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency聽just聽10 days later.鈥�
The designs and manufacturing instructions鈥痺ere聽then聽made freely available through 果冻影院B, the commercialisation arm of 果冻影院 and part鈥痮f 果冻影院 Innovation & Enterprise.听聽
The UK Government鈥檚 Department of Health and Social Care has since ordered 10,000 devices, and聽they鈥檝e聽already聽been used聽by organisations in over鈥�100 countries.听
Professor Rebecca Shipley, Director of 果冻影院 Institute of Healthcare Engineering,聽who聽co-led the 果冻影院-Ventura team聽alongside Professor Tim Baker,聽said: 鈥淭hese life-saving devices are relatively simple to manufacture and can be produced quickly. My thanks go to the brilliant engineers, business managers and team at 果冻影院B who have come together and made this happen at a pace that would be considered unimaginable under normal circumstances.鈥濃��
Read the full story on the 果冻影院 Innovation & Enterprise website.
Links
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- 果冻影院-Ventura.听
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- Innovation and enterprise support for staff.听
- Innovation and enterprise support for external organisations.听
- 果冻影院 Institute of Healthcare Engineering.
滨尘补驳别听
- Credit: James Tye/果冻影院.