W2LJ QRP - When you care to send the very least!

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Putting our skills to good use!

Posted: 02 Apr 2020 08:19 AM PDT
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From the ARRL:

Circuit Board for Bare-Bones Ventilator Moves Toward Production with Radio
Amateurs’ Help

04/01/2020

Radio amateurs continue to play key roles in developing the electronic
control system for an open-source/architecture, modular, low-cost human
patient ventilator. The device itself was designed by researcher Sem
Lampotang and his team at University of Florida Health — the school’s
academic health center — using such commonly available components as PVC
pipe and lawn-sprinkler valves. The idea is to create a bare-bones
ventilator that could serve in the event of a ventilator shortage.

“The way I looked at it is, if you’re going to run out of ventilators, then
we’re not even trying to reproduce the sophisticated ventilators out
there,� Lampotang said. “If we run out, you have to decide who gets one and
who doesn’t. How do you decide that? The power of our approach is that
every well-intentioned volunteer who has access to Home Depot, Ace, Lowe’s,
or their equivalent worldwide can build one.�

His team is working on adding safety features to meet regulatory
guidelines, then they will run engineering tests to determine safety,
accuracy, and endurance of the machine, which can be built for as little as
$125 to $250.

Dr. Gordon Gibby, KX4Z — a retired associate professor of anesthesiology at
the University of Florida and an electrical engineer — is among those
involved in the project, developing control-system prototypes. He reports
that a trial printed circuit board is being created, populated, and tested
prior to large-scale fabrication. “This should lead to a documented
open-source design that can be replicated or improved upon by any
interested manufacturer,� Gibby said, noting that the board could be built
anywhere in the world, based on the Arduino Nano microcontroller.

“A huge amount of work has gone on in the design of the circuit boards,�
Gibby told ARRL. “We have at least two, maybe three designs, ready for
fabrication.� Current design specifications and a video of prototypes have
been posted online. The Arduino-based control software will set the
respiratory rate and other key parameters in treating critically ill
coronavirus victims. Other radio amateurs involved in the control system
aspect of the project include Jack Purdum, W8TEE, and uBITX transceiver
maker Ashhar Farhan, VU2ESE.

Using a Groups.io forum, up to 140 volunteers have been studying or working
to push the project to completion. Software is being created by multiple
volunteers, with amateur radio operators involved in that phase as well.

The ventilator’s valves will precisely time the flow of compressed oxygen
into a patient with lungs weakened by viral pneumonia in order to extend
life and allow time for the body to clear the infection.

Among the project’s assumptions: The Food and Drug Administration will
waive clearance for the bare-bones design, if a massive shortage develops;
traditional medical components and supplies used in ventilators will be in
short supply, and transportation will be impaired or disrupted.

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If you're at home, have the time and the soldering skills - please consider
volunteering. This is about actively saving lives - perhaps some you love.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!