Student-startup develops low-cost ventilator

Coimbatore: College students have claimed to have developed a prototype of a ventilator with all electronic features for just less than Rs 25,000.

The product is to be tested in Government ESI hospital here shortly.

The student-startup J K Data Systems of Karthik S, Gowtham and Santhakumar and team with the support of the Bio-Medical and Computer Science department of the Rathinam College developed the product.

The device has the potential of meeting the huge demand for ventilators in the country and abroad.

The ventilator was made with a re-engineered design of an international open-source ventilator project, a press release said.

Stating that the students started the project on March 22 and came up with the prototype in just four days, the release said.

The Intermittent Positive Pressure Breathing Ventilator (IPPV) is now ready for testing, as ESI hospital has given permission.

The device can monitor and control of the tidal volume, breath per minute, inspiration expiration ratio adjustments and is also enhanced with pressure, flow and oxygen monitoring systems.

Since the device is made with optimal design and features to control its operations, the team expressed hope that the ventilator would help many patients.

After the testing, the device would seek a licence from the governments for commercial production in volumes, the release said.