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Valley varsity develops low-cost frugal ventilator to tackle Covid-19
The prototype named ‘Ruhdaar’ is expected to be handed over to the medical experts in the SKIMS for evaluation purpose once the innovators are satisfied with its functioning in the laboratory.
Amid a presumed shortage of ventilators, the innovators at Design Innovation Centre (DIC) of Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Awantipora, have developed a prototype for a low-cost frugal ventilator.
The prototype named ‘Ruhdaar’ is expected to be handed over to the medical experts in the SKIMS for evaluation purpose once the innovators are satisfied with its functioning in the laboratory.
DIC coordinator Shahkar Ahmad Nehvi said, “We have been working on the project for the last three weeks and now we have successfully demonstrated the prototype of the ventilator in the laboratory. We will be soon handing it over to the medical experts for the evaluation purposes.”
The prototype has three settings which include title volume, breath per minute, inspiration and expiration, Nehvi said.
He said pressure monitoring is an important part and should be tracked continuously. “We have to keep a check on the pressure so that it does not exceed beyond the selected degrees and now we are also able to get its readings done,” said Nehvi who is also the faculty at the electronics and engineering department of the university.
“The idea originally came from three former students to tackle the shortage of ventilators,” he said.
Peerzada Shoaib, a faculty at the electronics and communication department of the university, who was also part of the project, said it was developed from the locally available components in the laboratory. “We have used stepper motor, actuator, Atmel microcontroller, bag-valve mask (BVM), switches and potentiometers, pressure sensor, and an LCD screen to display information to the user,” he said.
“The ventilator will be priced at ₹15,000 only while those installed in the valley hospitals cost more than ₹70, 000,” he said.
Kashmir with a population of around 8 million has merely 95 ventilators in different valley hospitals, with many of them lying defunct.
Earlier this month, the DIC had developed a multi-channel splitter for ventilators at the Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura so that multiple patients with different lung capacities can avail the lifesaving support, especially during the Covid-19 crisis.
The university’s vice-chancellor Prof Mushtaq A Siddiqi said, “It is a proud moment that the team has achieved such task in a short span of time. Now, it depends on the medical experts to take a call.”
