(Discontinued Project)
The $40, easy to build ventilator for this COVID-19 pandemic.
Caveat emptor – You probably dislike disclaimers as much as me. “Superman costume does not permit wearer the ability to fly.“, “Toe fungus drug has potential side effect of heart attacks.” Modern society has forced anyone publishing or selling to cover the lowest common denominator of human intelligence and greed. But in the case of InqVent, I want to be totally clear. I am an engineer. I am not a qualified medical professional. Before the pandemic, no deep pocketed company would dare consider entering this product’s market for fear of liability. Since the pandemic, people are dying because of the lack of certified ventilators. InqVent is meant to fill that void where nothing better is available. It is meant to be built cheaply and quickly by the common Makers culture. I am engineering a ventilator to the very limited specifications available on the Internet. I am offering it up here for the first time (May 2020) to the praise, constructive criticism, or ridicule that the Internet is known. My hope is that medical professionals will weigh-in and either validate or help me improve the design. And… that it will save lives. Do NOT – build InqVent and use it on your own. Only medical professionals are qualified to setup even a medically certified ventilator. An even a medically certified ventilator can cause more harm than good.
About InqVent
InqVent is a mechanical ventilation machine (Ventilator). It is a pressure-cycled ventilator offering full Peak Airway Pressure. This includes resistive pressure, elastic pressure and PEEP. It is intended for this COVID-19 emergency. InqVent is configured and monitored by a web based user interface.
- Connections can be made from computers, tablets and smart phones.
- Connections can be made directly to InqVent or through a local area network.
- Multiple devices can connect, configure and monitor InqVent at the same time.
- Any device, say a computer can connect to many InqVents.
With the multitude of connection options, many scenarios are available to aid and protect our health care professionals.
- A nurse’s work station can be linked to many InqVents – With this situation, a nurse can simultaneous monitor many patients at-a-glance without having to put on virus-protective gear and enter a room.
- An attendant can attach to one room’s InqVent from the door – Again… not having to don protective gear.
- Monitoring can occur across the globe from remote locations.
- InqVent is powered by 12 volts. It can easily be integrated into an emergency vehicle’s power system and monitored directly from an EMT’s cell phone.
Using the web interface, many parameters will be configurable, including…
- breathing frequency
- inhalation rate
- peak pressure
- resistive pressure
- duration plateau pressure
- elastic pressure duration
- rest duration
- limits
- alarms
InqVent offers…
- Medical professional protection
- Remote configuration
- Multiple monitoring scenarios
- Small packaging
- InqVent can be built by any Maker proficient with 3D Printing, mild electronic board population and Arduino programming.
- InqVent can be produced in small quantities for around $40 US! This includes all the electronics, 3D printing, pump and power supply.
- InqVent’s design will be provided for free! All part lists, 3D Printer models, software binaries, and assembly instructions will be provided free of charge on this website.
- If the medical profession finds merit with InqVent, product improvements per their guidance and technical support will quickly follow.
More Information…
For subjects with pages or articles already published on this site, the items below will contain a link. Those same links will also be added under the InqVent menu above. For subjects that are “coming soon”, the links are mere place holders. You can expect material to be showing up for these in the coming weeks. – Inq
- InqVent – Parts List – Parts for version 10 are now published.
- Real time graphing of the pressure curves – (see video above at 4:38) For 1080P screens on desktops this will show four full cycles (or about 25 seconds at 12 breath/minute) and then will restart at the beginning overlaying the last four cycles. For tablets and phones, this is reduced due to screen real estate. It also may be configurable. For those of a software bent, this uses Web Sockets and can easily handle the 100 samples / second on desktop computers as well as smart phones.
- Presentation of the InqVent’s conformance to all components of airway pressure during mechanical ventilation and their configuration. (see video above at 4:38) Including…
- Rest region duration
- PEEP pressure
- Inhalation region duration
- Peak pressure
- Hold region duration
- Plateau pressure
- Expiration region duration
- 3D Printer Models Release – Version 10 is released on Thingiverse.com
- InqVent building starts on Building Overview
Coming Soon
- InqVent Version 12 – Getting an Education
- Increased blower capacity to handle 40 cm-H2O
- Air flow sensors for volume control
- Patient triggered breath initiation
- Seamless transition to/from patient triggered breath initiation
- Motherboard Design and Illustrations Release
- Software Binaries Release
- Assembly Instructions