Description
Covid-19 sparked a medical supply shortage the world over. To confront this crisis many cost-effective innovations were constructed. With the vaccine in wide circulation in affluent countries, many of these projects have been abandoned, ignoring the billions of people still very much in the middle of a pandemic and woefully unprepared for the next one. To help address this current and any future disparities, research was conducted on the construction of an economical ventilator. This thesis focuses on the design, manufacturing, and testing of components built for a cost-effective ventilator. In particular, a three-way valve, a PEEP valve, and a housing unit were designed and constructed. The former two components were tested to gauge their performance against existing devices. To evaluate the ventilator’s ease of construction, each new housing unit was fully assembled to operational condition. Ultimately all these components were successfully implemented into the Aztec Ventilator. Additionally, tests were performed to develop an algorithm used to predict inhalation tidal volume as well tests to gauge the oxygen delivery needs of the ventilator.
