AmbuBox: A Fast-Deployable Low-Cost Ventilator for COVID-19 Emergent Care

We present a low-cost clinically viable ventilator design, AmbuBox, using a controllable pneumatic enclosure and standard manual resuscitators that are readily available (AmbuBag), which can be rapidly deployed during pandemic and mass-casualty events with a minimal set of components to manufacture and assemble. The AmbuBox is designed to address the existing challenges presented in the existing low-cost ventilator designs by offering an easy-to-install and simple-to-operate apparatus while maintaining a long lifespan with high-precision flow control. As an outcome, a mass-producible prototype of the AmbuBox has been devised, characterized, and validated in a bench test setup using a lung simulator. This prototype will be further investigated through clinical testing. Given the potentially urgent need for inexpensive and rapidly deployable ventilators globally, the overall design, operational principle, and device characterization of the AmbuBox system have been described in detail with open access online. Moreover, the fabrication and assembly methods have been incorporated to enable short-term producibility by a generic local manufacturing facility. In addition, a full list of all components used in the AmbuBox has been included to reflect its low-cost nature.

[1]  C. Gaelyn Garrett,et al.  Should I Buy This? A Decision-Making Tool for Surgical Value-Based Purchasing , 2020, Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

[2]  Klaus Ulrich Klein,et al.  Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Epidemiology, patterns of care, and mortality for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome in intensive care units in 50 countries. , 2018 .

[3]  H. Li,et al.  Utah-Stanford Ventilator (Vent4US): Developing a rapidlyscalable ventilator for COVID-19 patients with ARDS , 2020, medRxiv.

[4]  Charles Mock,et al.  Assessment of the availability of technology for trauma care in Nepal. , 2015, Injury.

[5]  S. Jafri,et al.  The supply of anaesthetic and other medical gasses , 2012 .

[6]  M. Nishimura,et al.  Intensive care management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): challenges and recommendations , 2020, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

[7]  Sharukh Lokhandwala,et al.  Characteristics and Outcomes of 21 Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 in Washington State. , 2020, JAMA.

[8]  Y. Hu,et al.  Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China , 2020, The Lancet.

[9]  Anders Larsson,et al.  Epidemiology, Patterns of Care, and Mortality for Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Intensive Care Units in 50 Countries. , 2016, JAMA.

[10]  Megan L Ranney,et al.  Critical Supply Shortages - The Need for Ventilators and Personal Protective Equipment during the Covid-19 Pandemic. , 2020, The New England journal of medicine.

[11]  David Resnik,et al.  Pandemic Ventilator Rationing and Appeals Processes , 2011, Health Care Analysis.

[12]  Ting Yu,et al.  Clinical course and outcomes of critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a single-centered, retrospective, observational study , 2020, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

[13]  T. Bowcock,et al.  The HEV Ventilator Proposal , 2020, 2004.00534.

[14]  Lewis Rubinson,et al.  Positive-pressure ventilation equipment for mass casualty respiratory failure. , 2006, Biosecurity and bioterrorism : biodefense strategy, practice, and science.

[15]  Yan Zhao,et al.  Clinical Characteristics of 138 Hospitalized Patients With 2019 Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia in Wuhan, China. , 2020, JAMA.

[16]  O. Kirton,et al.  Re-engineering ventilatory support to decrease days and improve resource utilization. , 1996, Annals of surgery.

[17]  Art McDonald,et al.  Mechanical Ventilator Milano (MVM):A Novel Mechanical Ventilator Designed for Mass Scale Production in response to the COVID-19 Pandemics , 2020, medRxiv.

[18]  Arthur S Slutsky,et al.  Mechanical Ventilation: State of the Art. , 2017, Mayo Clinic proceedings.

[19]  Joshua M. Pearce.  A review of open source ventilators for COVID-19 and future pandemics , 2020, F1000Research.