Assam- As the Covid-19 pandemic situation in Assam worsens, a group of Tezpur University students has built a portable ventilator to combat the deadly virus.
The Department of Electrical Engineering has taken the lead in developing a portable ventilator, which is a critical device for patients who are unable to maintain the required level of ventilation to maintain gas exchange functions.
Under the banner of Prof. Aparna Kumar Padmapati Annual Scholarship from Assam Engineering College Class 88 Foundation for the year 2020-21, the initiative was part of a project that was awarded as the "Best Innovative Engineering Idea."
The scholarship is the brainchild of the AEC Class 88 Foundation, a group of Assam Engineering College graduates who graduated in 1988.
Bihung Muchahary, Aniket Raj, Manish Kumar, and Ankita Das are among the students who helped build the ventilator.
The students were supervised by Chiranjit Adhikary and Firdausa Ahmed, both of whom served as guest faculty at the university's Electrical Engineering department.
The project is supervised by Soumik Roy, Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering.
"The purpose of the project is to design a portable mechanical ventilator by automating the operation of 'Ambu Bag' with volume control ventilation which can be used in respiratory failure," Roy said.
The "Ambu Bag" is a hand-held system that provides positive pressure ventilation to patients who are not breathing well or have breathing problems.
"Another important objective of the project is to implement Internet of things (IoT) based features like monitoring of patient activity and controlling parameters of ventilator through an App," he added.
Roy claims that the design is cost-effective, and that using IoT as a remote control function, users can control and track ventilator parameters using devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Besides, it will prevent both the clinicians and the doctors from getting infected from the airborne transmission," he added.
The device is cost-effective and will be available for a price ranging from Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 15,000, depending on the features of the machine and the model.