MISSION STATEMENT
BREATHNEY is an R&D-project to duplicate full functionality of a medical ventilator, with the needed accuracy, robustness and reliability, while selecting only parts that can be quickly sourced in large volume from non-medical industrial sectors.
The goal is a redesign-from-scratch of an existing technology for mass rapid manufacture.
HISTORY
This project was started on March 17th by a small group of engineers at Fablab Brussels as a 4-day rush to replicate the MIT-ambubag concept:
http://web.mit.edu/2.75/projects/DMD_2010_Al_Husseini.pdf
We based our spec list initially on the specifications needed for a ventilator for ADRS-patients, written by Julian Botta, Johns Hopkins Hospital:
Specifications for simple open source mechanical ventilator Public
We have benefitted from advice from UZ Brussel as well as Industry.
During April the project grew into a 50+ team of volunteers and industry in a non-profit effort to develop a rapid-manufacturable, open-source ventilator for COVID-19.
The result was Breathney Version 1, a series of test machines built around a reusable ambu bag.
These machines were tested against the requirements specified in the MHRA-publication “Rapidly Manufactured Ventilator System” and submitted to reliability and endurance testing.
While the peak has passed in Belgium and Europe, where the machines were not neededn development on the project continues with a smaller team.
The lessons learned during development and testing of these machines, are being implemented in a Version 2 machine.
Prototype 7 – April 2nd
