DIY Ventilators

We are sharing this officially because part of our team is directly involved in the following initiative, which could potentially save human lives.

A shortage of mechanical ventilators is expected due to COVID-19 patients. In order to save the lives of people who will not have access to such equipment, our goal is to enable the local production of ventilators using standard components that are easily accessible. We aim to create an open library of “do-it-yourself” plans and designs that others can improve or assemble themselves.

In essence, even in places with fewer than 100 confirmed cases, infections double every two days. If today there are 20 confirmed cases, they could reach 327,000 in just 28 days (20 * 2^(28/2)). If we consider that the virus may have started spreading 10 days before the first confirmed case, that number could theoretically reach 300 million (with an upper estimate of 70% of the population).

It is expected that 1% of cases will require mechanical ventilation, and in many countries there are only around 1,000 such machines. In Bulgaria, there are approximately 2,000, while in worst-case scenarios, around 4,000 may be needed.

Each ventilator can be used by only one patient at a time. In Bulgaria, this means that at around 140,000 cases, doctors may be forced to leave people without assistance due to lack of equipment. Realistically, the time to act is before April.

What is currently being done and what are the problems?

There are projects attempting to mobilize groups of people to build such machines, but they face challenges. These are mainly due to centralized coordination structures, which become bottlenecks because of technical, communication, and management issues.

Information often remains locked in inaccessible chat groups, and results are not openly shared, limiting broader participation. Successful outcomes are not disseminated, preventing others from building upon them.

We do not want to become such a bottleneck—we simply want to initiate a process where people can organize themselves.

What did we decide to do?

A group of us has organized to create an open and accessible platform for everyone, aiming to help solve this problem by providing free ventilator designs that can be built anywhere in the world where there is a medical need.

We have no time to lose. This project aims to connect people who can quickly build small prototypes and then share their designs with others.

In this way, we can learn from each other, and every hospital facing a shortage of ventilators will be able to choose the design that best suits their needs.

We need engineers, doctors, and people who can facilitate the entire process.

At the same time, we will attempt to reach out to manufacturers of such equipment and ask them to provide designs of older models they no longer produce, so that we do not compete with their current products.

More information: http://diyventilators.com

Anyone who would like to get actively involved can sign up through the links on the website. In any case, we would appreciate it if you share this information with engineers and doctors you know who might be willing to participate.