IIT Roorkee develops portable ventilator to help COVID-19 patients

Roorkee : IIT Roorkee has developed a low-cost portable ventilator that can be utilized under the condition of shortfall of regular ventilators to treat coronavirus COVID-19 patients. 

The portable ventilation has been named as ‘Prana-Vayu,’ it has been developed in collaboration with AIIMS, Rishikesh, and is equipped with state-of-the-art features, said a statement by the top engineering institute. 

"The ventilator is based on the controlled operation of the prime mover to deliver the required amount of air to the patient. The automated process controls the pressure and flow rates in the inhalation and exhalation lines. Besides, the ventilator has feedback that can control tidal volume and breathe per minute," the IIT Roorkee said. 

The ventilator comes equipped with a treatment for a wide degree of congestions in the respiratory tract, more importantly, this can be used on patients of all age group.

The prototype of the ventilator has been tested successfully for normal and patient-specific breathing conditions. Additionally, it does not require compressed air for functioning and can be especially useful in cases when hospital wards or open areas are converted into ICUs. 

“Prana-Vayu has been designed especially for COVID-19 pandemic. It is low-cost, safe, reliable, and can be quickly manufactured. We have successfully achieved the ventilatory requirement on a test lung, and it can be used for both infants and even overweight adults,” said Prof Akshay Dvivedi, Coordinator, Tinkering Laboratory, IIT Roorkee. 

“Our commercial product will be of approximate dimensions of 1.5 feet × 1.5 feet for effective portability,” he added.

“Today ‘Prana-Vayu’ was presented to more than 450 industries in a webinar organized by CII. I am happy to share that we have received interest from multiple industries for its mass production. We are committed to augmenting the efforts of the government in tackling the pandemic. This low-cost ventilator will be highly useful for COVID-19 patients, especially when there is a shortage of ventilators.” said Prof Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee. 

"It is safe and reliable as it is equipped with real-time spirometry and alarms. It can automatically limit high pressure with an alarm system. In case of a failure, the circuit opens to the atmosphere with prevent choking," the statement said.

The number of coronavirus cases in India stood at 2,301 with 56 deaths on Friday with the government maintaining India is at Stage 2 of the pandemic.