Low-Cost Portable Ventilators Developed by IIT Mandi Researchers

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi has recently developed two low cost portable ventilators. The developed prototypes are easy to use and can be moved to remote locations in case of medical emergency.

The ventilator is developed by Dr. Arpan Gupta, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, IIT Mandi, along with research scholars Lokendra Singh and Sourabh Dogra. The cost of smart ventilators is INR 4,000.

The developed prototype is a mechanised Artificial Manual Breathing Unit (AMBU) bag which has options to control breath rate and can manage the volume of air going into the patient's lungs.

The ventilator also includes an emergency switch and the mobile application that stops the ventilator and alarms in case there is a malfunction.

The prototype was developed in consultation with a medical team comprising Dr,. Chander Singh, Medical Officer of IIT Mandi, Dr. Manjul Sharma and Dr. Jasdeep from Jagriti Hospital, Mandi.

Dr. Arpan Gupta also stated, "Designed especially for COVID-19 pandemic, this low-cost ventilator can be operated manually as well as using a smartphone app connected over Wifi. It can offer some protection to our medical staff also, since the ventilator can be operated remotely.”

Dr. Rajeev Kumar, Associate Professor , School of Engineering, IIT Mandi has developed a mechanical ventilator along with his team of researchers. The mechanical ventilator is designed using a low cost self inflating bag operated by an electric motor costing under INR 25, 000.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar said, "In this time of COVID-19 pandemic, this low-cost ventilator will be very useful especially for the rural patients because of its portability.”

In the mechanical ventilator, a self rack and pinion mechanism has been used in which the self-inflatable bag is compressed from one side, which blows the oxygen into the patient's lungs either through invasive or non-invasive mode.