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Himachal Pradesh: IIT-Mandi develops two low-cost ventilators

Manali: With ventilators high in demand, some researchers at Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT ), Mandi have developed prototypes of two low-cost portable ventilators, which can be used even in remote locations and do not require compressed air.

IIT-Mandi’s School of Engineering associate professor Dr Arpan Gupta, along with research scholars Lokendra Singh and Sourabh Dogra, has developed a smart ventilator, which has a mechanised Artificial Manual Breathing Unit (AMBU) bag with options to control breath rate and volume of air going into the patient’s lungs.

This easy-to-use prototype is wifi operated and will cost around Rs 4,000 only. The engineers said the unique feature of the product is that it can be controlled by a mobile application over wifi apart through manual operation.

A smart phone application “IIT Mandi Ventilator” has also been developed for the purpose. The mobile app can start-stop the ventilator and can change breaths per minute (BPM) rate. Another team of engineers led by associate professor Dr Rajeev Kumar from IIT-Mandi’s School of Engineering has developed a mechanical ventilator that uses a self-inflating bag operated by an electric motor and will cost nearly Rs 25,000.

The research team has used the motor generally used in an electric ventilator, along with AMBU bag or self-inflation bag.

A single rack and pinion mechanism has been used in this ventilator, in which self-inflatable bag is compressed from one side that would blow oxygen into the patient’s lungs either through invasive or non-invasive mode. The machine has an interface between ventilator to patient and ventilator to operator.

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