Baxter Ventilator

Last crawled date: 1 year, 11 months ago

The Baxter Ventilator was designed specifically to address a shortage of ventilators during a pandemic. During pandemic conditions, mass production and supply chains for ventilators may be disrupted, and surges in demand for medical device components and market failures may limit availability. The Baxter Ventilator was therefore designed to be built using commonly available parts and by individuals with limited skills in remote locations. Following IKEA-style assembly instructions and videos, an individual will be able to assemble the ventilator in four to eight hours, using only a few basic hand tools. These simple but robust ventilators can be individually built for around $2,500 at retail prices including the cost of a 3D printer, with possible production models costing between $500 and $1,000.

The Baxter Ventilator is well suited for use in both modern hospitals and emergency field settings. Because it creates its own pressure, the Baxter Ventilator does not require pressurized air or oxygen. The only requirement for operation is a power outlet, and if desired oxygen tanks are easily mounted. If power is disrupted the Baxter Ventilator can run on backup power for over 90 minutes. All control and operational power is supplied at low, non-hazardous voltages.

The Baxter Ventilator can provide both controlled and assisted ventilation. In controlled mode the operator can specify volume controlled continuous mandatory ventilation (VC-CMV) or pressure controlled continuous mandatory ventilation (PC-CMV). In assisted mode, the operator can set up pressure-support ventilation (PSV) or volume-support ventilation (VSV) and can choose synchronized intermittent-mandatory ventilation (SIMV).

The design of this ventilator is based on a large pneumatic cylinder driven by a motor via a belt and pulley system. The ventilator’s control software synthesizes sensor measurements and inputs from the user into a schedule that determines piston location and speed, providing the patient with the desired rate and volume of air. The control software is built on Python subroutines that communicate with a graphical user interface (touch screen) through an inter-process communication framework provided by the ZeroMQ library. Positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP), peak inspiratory pressure (PIP), and fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2), are controlled manually, but monitored by the software. The Baxter Ventilator features numerous mechanical and software redundancies and alarms to ensure safe operation.

The current prototype was evaluated on both a Gaumard HAL S3201 patient simulator, and on a QuickLung and monitored by ADInstruments’ PowerLab DAQ. The prototype met the target criteria and produced results similar to industry-standard ventilators, across a range of settings and various ventilation modes. More importantly, the Baxter Ventilator proved to be very repeatable, creating almost identical breaths during ventilation at all settings. Additionally, the Baxter Ventilator was easily tuned to produce different ventilation output by adjusting the motor profiles. Repeatability and tunability allow the Baxter Ventilator to be configured to meet the needs of clinicians.