NEISD kids help develop low-cost ventilator prototype in response to COVID-19
With a price tag of nearly $20-$30,000, having access to a life-saving machine like a ventilator might not always be possible.
One group of San Antonio students hoped to change that by developing a unique ventilator prototype that costs only around $700.
The students on the project include Eric Love, Lead Programmer; Grant Kahl (Colorado School of Mines), Lead Engineer; Jason Love (ISA), Fabrication and Communications; Jake Love (STEM Academy), Safety and Regulations; Nate Love (UT Austin), Electrical and Technical Writing; Christopher Weeks (Texas A&M), Programmer; Dylan Watson (UTSA), Programmer; and Rylee Lippenholz (Brandeis HS), CAD.
“It frees up the hands of nurses and doctors to work on other patients,” International School of the Americas student Jason Love explained.
Since their schools were closed, the students had extra flexibility to focus on creating the low-cost ventilator.
“Anytime we were awake, we were working on this project,” ISA senior Eric Love said.
“It has multiple types of breathing modes; there’s mandatory breathing which is forced breaths and there is responsive breathing which is triggered breaths. Mandatory pumps the bag by moving a motor in and out and then responsive does the same except it has a pressure sensor that can read the pressure of the lungs. Once they starts to expand, the pressure will dip and it triggers a motor to initiate a breath and then ventilates the patient,” Eric Love explained.
All of the students put in 15-16-hour days for two straight weeks, including STEM Academy senior Jake Love.
“We initially wanted to help address this problem because we were seeing in the news all this talk about the ventilator shortages and how this could potentially have a huge impact on the survival rate of a lot of people,” Jake Love said.
The goal aimed to reduce cost and increase availability, and with the first phase met, they are ready to move on to the second.
“Partially because the ventilator need has sort of been filled in the United States, now we are trying to reach the communities in the U.S. that can’t really afford the solution that has been proposed, which is like $5,000 per ventilator. We’re trying to reach those communities such as the Native American tribes and then also looking beyond the United States in third world countries. We’re looking into FDA approval right now,” Eric Love said.
The students all plan to pursue engineering careers and say North East ISD has helped shape them into the innovators they have become.
“It’s the collaboration and taking action and looking at the world around us,” Eric love added.
And it proves that anyone can make a difference using the skills they have, no matter what age.
“It’s a good time just to be able to help other people,” Jason love said.
To see the full video created by the students (Kepler Enterprises) click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJkGrnfRZEg
Because #NEISDcares!
