OPEN VENTILATOR SYSTEM INITIATIVE
OPEN VENTILATOR SYSTEM INITIATIVE
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Prodrive took an original concept from Cambridge University's Whittle Laboratory and in just five weeks turned it into a full working prototype ready for production.
THE
CHALLENGE
April 2020 – the World Health Organisation suggests Africa could have 10M+ COVID-19 cases in 3 to 6 months, yet it had less than 2000 working ventilators. After initial research by Cambridge University’s Whittle Laboratory, it's ideas needed progressing to production standards with a non-medical supply chain to be able to realise it quicker & cheaper than current products.
WHAT
WE DID
20 Prodrive engineers worked 7 days a week to rapidly evolve the initial concept to use parts made of medically appropriate materials & be made in high production volumes.
We designed the electronic & electrical architecture, wrote control software & collaborated with clinicians to ensure ease of use in intensive care environments.
The prototype was manufactured, assembled, & tested against UK Government’s Rapidly Manufactured Ventilator System (RMVS) specification with a calibrated artificial lung.
THE
RESULTS
The unit was finished in just 5 weeks and delivered remotely from the researchers, all whilst under UK lockdown. OVSI is now productionising before volume manufacture in South Africa.
The result is a design that will save countless lives in the developing world where ventilators are scarce and many that exist cannot achieve the quality of performance that the Open Ventilator offers.
Professor Richard Prager FREng, Head of the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge
