Mercedes’s Formula One engineers have teamed up with University College London Hospital (UCLH) clinicians to develop a device that is less invasive than a ventilator. This Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device is already in use to aid COVID-19 patients breathing in China and Italy.

 

While the device already exists, there is a shortage of supply. Recently, it underwent some reverse engineering and modifications. These modifications include improving its design and adapting it for mass production.

 

“Normally medical device development would take years but we’ve done that in days because we went back to a simple existing device and ‘reverse engineered’ it in order to be able to produce them quickly and at scale,” Professor Rebecca Shipley, Director of UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering said.

 

The UCLH will trial up to 100 of the new CPAP devices. If the trials go well, Mercedes-AMG-HPP can produce up to 1,000 of the CPAP devices in a week. After which they will send them to hospitals around Britain.

 

This is imperative as experts expect Covid-19 cases to surge in the near future.

 

The CPAP device keeps the patient’s airways open, increasing the amount of oxygen entering the lungs. It achieves this by pushing air into the mouth and nose of a patient at a continuous rate.

 

Also Read:
– Trump Invokes Defense Production Act, Forcing GM To Produce Ventilators
– Shoppers Reject Instacart’s Hand Sanitisers, Plan To Continue Strike
– Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Donates $25 Million Toward Treatments For COVID-19

UCLH critical care consultant Prof Mervyn Singer said:

 

“These devices are a halfway house between a simple oxygen mask and invasive mechanical ventilation which requires patients to be sedated. They will help to save lives by ensuring that ventilators, a limited resource, are used only for the most severely ill.”

Ventilator Challenge UK

A consortium of UK businesses in the UK is also coming together to produce medical ventilators. They include industrial, technology and engineering companies.

 

The companies in the “VentilatorChallengeUK” include Airbus, BAE Systems, Ford, Rolls-Royce, and Siemens. The companies have an order of more than 10,00 ventilators from the British Government.

 

Chief executive of High Value Manufacturing Catapult, D**k Elsy said:

 

“This consortium brings together some of the most innovative companies in the world. They are working together with incredible determination and energy to scale up production of much-needed ventilators and combat a virus that is affecting people in many countries.”

 

For your daily dose of tech, lifestyle and trending content, make sure to follow Plat4om on Twitter @Plat4omLive, on Instagram @Plat4om, on LinkedIn at Plat4om, and on Facebook at Plat4om. You can also email us at info@plat4om.com. Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE.