Ingenuity in the face of a pandemic

The ApolloBVM is made from off-the-shelf parts and supplies hospital-grade ventilation. Image courtesy of Mike Williams, Rice University Public Affairs

As COVID-19 spreads worldwide, there are critical concerns that hospital ICUs won’t have enough ventilators on hand to help the most seriously ill patients breathe. Medical-equipment manufacturers have ramped up production of these machines. Firms like Dyson, Ford and Tesla are stepping in to help. General Motors is retooling a plant to deliver 30,000 units by August.

However, it’s not that easy. Ventilators used in the U.S. are sophisticated, highly engineered and cost from $5,000 to $50,000 each. And they are built with hundreds of specialized components from a wide range of suppliers — many of whom are offshore, short staffed or currently dealing with their own supply chain issues.

In what may be a pragmatic alternative, students at Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering have created an economical device from off-the-shelf parts that supplies hospital-grade ventilation.

The fundamentals of ventilators are pretty basic: they mechanically push air to open up the lungs and get more oxygen to the patient. Last year, a student team at Rice’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK) crafted a machine to do just that by automating the compression of simple bag valve masks. A BVM consists of a flexible bladder that’s attached to a face mask. Squeezing the bag forces air through a one-way valve and into the lungs of intubated patients. They are routinely carried by emergency medical personnel, and more than 100 million BVMs are manufactured around the world each year.

But squeezing by hand is tiring in just a few minutes. The automated system can do it for hours. The unit’s “compressor” is a motor driven rack-and-pinion mechanism with attached paddles that cyclically squeeze the bag. The students thought the device might be useful in low-resource hospitals in developing countries.

Fast forward a year and with COVID-19 raging, requests are pouring into the university seeking plans for the prototype. Staff at OEDK quickly upgraded it into the ApolloBVM, a more-robust unit that’s medical grade. Most of its components are readily obtainable through online retailers and hardware stores like Amazon, McMaster- Carr, Mouser and Servo City. Total cost is less than $250, a price tag significantly lower than that of even entry-level commercial ventilators.

Hundreds of clinicians and manufacturers from more than 50 countries have requested information about the project and opensource plans have been posted online. The Dept. of Defense is reported to have expressed interest.

With ongoing spread of coronavirus and a looming shortage of ventilators, ApolloBVM could help patients who are less-critically ill while they await availability of a standard hospital ventilator. “The immediate goal is a device that works well enough to keep noncritical COVID-19 patients stable and free up larger ventilators for more critical patients,” said Amy Kavalewitz, executive director of OEDK. It’s been successfully tested with an artificial lung and clinical trials with human patients are imminent. OEDK is also working with manufacturers to ramp-up production.

Deep down, everyone hopes these devices will never be needed. But these aren’t normal times, so planning for the worst-case scenario is warranted. Whether the ApolloBVM helps save lives or, in the end, just collects dust, the positive results can’t be overlooked. The student project has involved plenty of creativity and teamwork under pressure to meet critical deadlines, not to mention honing design-engineering and code-writing capabilities and mastering the latest manufacturing techniques. These are all highly sought-after skills any employer would embrace as we emerge from this crisis.

Ken Korane • Contributing Editor