Gallery, Projects and General > How to's
Ventilator
nrml:
Old style anaesthesia ventilators like the Manley can quite easily be built in an average home workshop, but these have long become obsolete. Modern ventilators are an entirely a different kettle of fish. They allow tight control of gas flow patterns controlled electronically and are equipped with several sensors to measure parameters like volume, pressure, flow, temperature, leaks, compliance of the circuit, compliance of the patient's lungs,oxygen concentrations etc etc etc
Aside from the complexity, they must be designed and tested to work flawlessly 24 hours a day for months on end continuously without any break. Failure is quite literally the difference between life and death. Things like lubrication, friction management and wear need special solutions as the machine is directly connected to the patient's lungs as do fail safe and back up modes for every subsystem on the machine.
They are amazing works of engineering probably on par with the complexity of modern aerospace engineering and its not really a surprise that there are only a handful of companies that design and manufacture them these days.
mattinker:
I have a respirator for sleep Apnoea, how do theses compare?
edward:
CPAP machines are a mild positive pressure of unoxygenated air so not really the same. I guess it might hold your alveoli open a bit but I don't think it'll see you through acute respiratory failure :-)
Will_D:
--- Quote from: edward on March 19, 2020, 12:50:16 PM ---CPAP machines are a mild positive pressure of unoxygenated air so not really the same. I guess it might hold your alveoli open a bit but I don't think it'll see you through acute respiratory failure :-)
--- End quote ---
They can also administer (blend in) oxygen at the required level if neded.
nrml:
CPAP machines for sleep apnoea are very simple devices. They are basically a tight fitting mask with a pressure release valve that pops open at a fixed pressure. It's supplied with pressurised air or oxygen either from a piped gas supply, cylinder or small pump. As mentioned earlier, all it does is splint your lungs open like a partially blown balloon. It doesn't take over the work of breathing which a mechanical ventilator does.
Noninvasive ventilators are in some ways a halfway house between CPAP and a full mechanical ventilator. They help reduce the work of breathing and offer some support but can't takeover the work of breathing completely. We have one UK based manufacturer of these devices. All the talk of large technology companies stepping in to manufacture ventilators on a war footing to support the corona effort is pure fantasy. At best they might be able to manufacture a very simple noninvasive ventilator under licence. While such devices would have a role in supporting people without severe respiratory failure, they wouldn't be a substitute for an intensive care or anaesthesia ventilator. A badly designed or manufactured machine or even one that is capable but not intuitive to use would be lethal as cascading training would be very difficult in the current environment.
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