The High Energy Ventilator project
By Jan Buytaert (CERN)
Abstract: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a project was
initiated to design and construct a novel streamlined ventilator,
called High Energy Ventilator (HEV), led by a team at CERN and in
collaborating institutes. As the pandemic spread, the number of
hospitalised patients requiring ventilators led to a global shortage
of supplies. The team realised that the types of systems used to
regulate gas flows for particle physics detectors could be used to
design a novel ventilator. The HEV design could be used for patients
in mild or recovery phases, enabling the more high-end machines to be
freed up for the most intensive cases. It is a safety-first design,
intended to satisfy clinical requirements for the most requested
ventilation modes for COVID-19 patients.
The first stage of prototyping was achieved at CERN on 27 March, with
a concept that relies on inexpensive and readily available components.
The desired physical characteristics of the pressure regulators,
valves and pressure sensors are now being refined, and the support of
clinicians and international organisations was harnessed for further
testing within hospital settings. The control software for this device
is encapsulated in a dedicated microcontroller that will, along with
other low-power components, enable the deployment of the HEV in areas
with limited resources and unstable power distribution, making
possible to power it with batteries, solar panels or emergency power
generators.
This seminar will describe the concept, technical design and tests of
the HEV system.
An agenda page containing the Zoom link is
here:https://indico.cern.ch/event/918802/