本文摘譯自medical design and outsourcing

2020年7月1日?以下為詳文

Smith學院工程系團隊設計了一種快速展開式呼吸機，以解決特別是在發展中國家COVID-19流行病所造成的呼吸機短缺問題，從而贏得了CoVent-19挑戰賽。

4月1日，來自馬薩諸塞州總醫院的十幾個麻醉住院醫師啟動公開挑戰賽，吸引了200名參賽者。來自馬薩諸塞州北安普敦學院的30人團隊，從設計概念到工作樣機獲得完勝。下一步可能是尼日利亞監管審批的最終產品，尼日利亞是一直與CoVent-19挑戰賽組織者保持洽談的國家之一。

根據大賽主辦方介紹，SmithVent的設計成本是傳統呼吸機的十分之一，該設計將經濟的比例電磁閥技術與空氣氧氣混合室相結合，來滿足新冠病毒防疫通風換氣的所有要求。該團隊主要依靠便捷可用的現成組件，減少定制加工，改善與其他醫療設備的兼容性。外殼、ISO配件和安裝塊可使用FDM或立體光刻3D打印機生產。這個設計是開源的，任何人都可以使用和改進。

WWLP網站截圖

排在第二名的是來自舊金山的fuseproject團隊提交的InVent氣動呼吸機。該團隊由瑞士設計師Yves Behar和Cionic創立的創新設計公司和醫療設備技術初創公司組成。排在第三名的是由幾十名工程師、醫護人員和其他專業人士組成的全球團隊開發的呼吸系統樣機，該樣機重點服務對象是發展中國家和低資源社區。

3dmox網站截圖

CoVent-19挑戰賽的創始人和主任Richard Boyer博士說，他們三月份開始作計劃，當時尚不清楚美國是否有足夠等量的呼吸機來治療大流行性疾病患者。

他說：“此后，我們的重點轉向了發展中國家，在那里，我們看到，有限的資源對付著這種新疾病的肆虐和所產生的高死亡率”“我們開發的試驗臺讓我們對獲獎樣機的性能有了很大的信心，坦率地說，讓其他最終入圍的設計走向世界可能也有巨大的價值。”

原文：

Smith College team wins ventilator design challenge

July 1, 2020 By Nancy Crotti Leave a Comment

A team of Smith College engineering alumnae, staff and faculty has won the CoVent-19 Challenge to design a rapidly deployable ventilator to address shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in developing countries.

A dozen anesthesiology resident physicians from Massachusetts General Hospital kicked off the public challenge April 1, attracting 200 entries. The 30-person team from the Northampton, Mass., college took a winning design from concept through working prototype. The next step could be a final product for regulatory approval in Nigeria, one of the countries that have been talking with the CoVent-19 Challenge organizers.

The SmithVent design, which is one-tenth the cost of traditional ventilators, combines economical proportional solenoid valve technology with an air-oxygen mixing chamber to meet the full set of requirements for COVID-19 ventilation, according to the contest organizers. The team relied primarily on readily available, off-the-shelf components, which reduced custom machining and improved compatibility with other medical equipment. The enclosure, ISO fittings and mounting blocks can be produced using FDM or stereolithography 3D printers. The design is open source for anyone to use and improve.

The timeline was intense, according to Smith College engineering professor Susannah Howe.

“To a person, we came into this not knowing anything about ventilators,” she said in a news release. “In two months we went from knowing nothing to having a functional prototype. That’s just crazy. To see that trajectory in such a short period of time, with people who are volunteering their time on top of their other jobs is amazing and heartwarming and so rewarding.”

Second place went to the InVent Pneumatic Ventilator submitted by a San Francisco-based team comprised of fuseproject, a design and innovation firm founded by Swiss designer Yves Behar, and Cionic, a medical device technology start-up. The third-place prototype, RespiraWorks, was developed by a global team of dozens of engineers, healthcare workers and other professionals with a focus on developing countries and low-resource communities.

Dr. Richard Boyer, founder and director of the CoVent-19 Challenge, said when they began planning in March, it was unclear if there would be enough ventilators even in the United States to treat pandemic patients.

“Our focus has since shifted to developing countries, where we’re seeing high death rates and limited resources to deal with the ravages of this new disease,” he said. “The test bed we developed gives us a lot of confidence in the performance of the winning prototype, and frankly there is probably tremendous value in getting other finalist designs out into the world too.”

The three winners will receive a total of $10,000 in credits for 3D printing from Stratasys (NSDQ:SSYS), which also provided access to free 3D printing and a team of three application engineers for the seven finalist teams building their working prototypes. Other sponsors include Ximedica, Valispace, HackFund and Yelling Mule.