Coronavirus: IIT-Roorkee develops low-cost ventilator

IIT-Roorkee has developed a low-cost portable ventilator that can be useful in the fight against COVID-19.

The closed-loop ventilator does not require compressed air and is useful when hospital wards and open areas are converted into ICUs, a press release from the premier institute said.

The ventilator named 'Prana-Vayu' has been developed in collaboration with AIIMS, Rishikesh.

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.

The prototype has been tested successfully for normal and patient-specific breathing conditions.

The research team from IIT-Roorkee included Akshay Dvivedi and Arup Kumar Das with online support from Debendra Tripathi from AIIMS, Rishikesh.

They teamed up only a week back by remote communication to develop a quick time technology to help the distressed at the time of COVID-19.

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 Akshay Dvivedi, coordinator, Tinkering Laboratory, IIT Roorkee.