HCMUT Rapido, a technology transfer unit at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology has developed a low-cost ventilator system to address severe acute respiratory failure in people suffering from COVID-19. HCMUT Rapido was established as part of the Aus4Innovation project “UTS Rapido Vietnam”.
Thousands of lives have been lost during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a severe shortage of ventilators, making it critical to be able to manufacture ventilators quickly and cheaply, as well as allow medical staff to monitor multiple ventilators simultaneously and remotely.
The Rapido team at HCMUT completed the low-cost prototype in early April 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam. The first prototype demonstrated functional non-invasive mechanical ventilation, or CPAPs (continuous positive airway pressure).
IoT-enabled ventilator developed by HCMUT Rapido team for COVID-19 patients. Image: UTS
Its most innovative function is an assist control, which helps find the optimal air intake and adapt with the patient’s condition rather than forcing a patient to breathe with a fixed frequency.
Use of an IoT platform allows medical workers to remotely monitor patients and ventilators – a critical asset during the peak of the pandemic, when the medical workforces is severely stretched by a large number of patients.
The ventilator helps identify optimal air intake and adapts to each individual patient. Image: UTS
The HCMUT Rapido team owns the technology and use open source, meaning that mass production to meet a surge in demand is possible, once the technology is certified.
The team plans to now develop an endotracheal tube for invasive ventilation to avoid the risk of aerosolizing the virus to the air. The team also plans to use sensors and IoT technology that allow doctors and technicians to monitor multiple ventilators simultaneously and remotely.
In addition, the team used a cheap 3D printer to design and print simple yet effective mask holders to alleviate the irritation caused by continuous mask wearing for doctors and nurses on the front line. Thousands of these mask holders have been delivered and are currently being used.
HCMUT Rapido also used a 3D printer to develop a mask holder to reduce irritation caused by wearing a mask for long periods. Image: UTS