“We came into this not knowing anything about
ventilators,” SmithVent team lead says
Top 3 teams from over 200 submissions win
on-demand 3D printing services from Stratasys
On April 1, a dozen anesthesiology resident physicians from
Massachusetts General Hospital kicked off an audacious public
challenge to design a rapidly deployable, minimum viable ventilator
that could address shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,
particularly in developing countries. Just three months and more
than 200 submissions later, a team of engineering alumnae, staff
and faculty from Smith College in Northampton, Mass., had taken a
winning design from concept through working prototype. The next
step could be a final product for regulatory approval in Nigeria,
just one of the countries that have been talking with the CoVent-19
Challenge organizers.
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The winning SmithVent design from a team
of engineering alumnae, staff and faculty from Smith College in
Northampton, Mass. (Photo: Business Wire)
The 30-person Smith College team collaborated on a simplified,
cost-effective, easily manufactured pneumatic design particularly
tailored to COVID-19 patient needs. 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. 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.
Smith College Engineering Professor Susannah Howe said the
timeline was intense. “To a person, we came into this not knowing
anything about ventilators,” she said. “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.”
Two other teams were also recognized by the CoVent-19 Challenge
judges. The second-place InVent Pneumatic Ventilator was 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 InVent prototype
is a pneumatically driven ventilator optimized for a COVID-19
healthcare context that can be assembled in under four hours. The
prototype used 3D printing technology from Stratasys, and featured
a simple and intuitive human-machine interface and custom
rapid-manufactured venturi flow sensors. A multi-ventilator tablet
display encourages patient distancing.
The third-place prototype, RespiraWorks, was developed by a
global team of dozens of engineers, healthcare workers, and other
professionals that bring a focus on developing countries and
low-resource communities. The model uses a sophisticated
blower-based ventilation system, simplified assembly and
manufacturing, and high-quality, open-source software. Parts are
designed to be available from local supply chains around the world.
“Patients suffering from COVID-19 require and deserve high-quality
ventilation, regardless of whether they were born in a rich country
or a poor one,” said RespiraWorks Founder and Executive Director
Ethan Chaleff of Oakland, Calif.
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.”
Seven finalist prototypes were evaluated using a test bed to
determine which design provides the best combination performance
against safety, reliability, manufacturability, affordability, and
simplicity.
The three winners will receive a total of $10,000 in credits for
3D printing from Stratasys (NASDAQ: 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. In addition, the challenge was hosted on the Stratasys
GrabCAD community. Other sponsors include Ximedica, Valispace,
HackFund, and Yelling Mule.
Stratasys is a global leader in additive manufacturing or
3D printing technology and is the manufacturer of FDM®, PolyJet
Technology™, and stereolithography 3D printers. The company’s
technologies are used to create prototypes, manufacturing tools,
and production parts for industries, including aerospace,
automotive, healthcare, consumer products and education. For more
than 30 years, Stratasys products have helped manufacturers reduce
product-development time, cost, and time-to-market, as well as
reduce or eliminate tooling costs and improve product quality. The
Stratasys 3D printing ecosystem of solutions and expertise includes
3D printers, materials, software, expert services, and on-demand
parts production. Online at: www.stratasys.com.
To learn more about Stratasys, visit www.stratasys.com, the
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Stratasys Corporate & North America Aaron
Pearson Aaron.pearson@stratasys.com +1 612-716-9228
W2O for CoVent-19 Challenge Kate Contreras
kcontreras@w2ogroup.com +1 862.432.8436
Europe, Middle East, and Africa Jonathan Wake /
Miguel Afonso, Incus Media stratasys@incus-media.com +44 1737
215200
Stratasys Investor Relations Yonah Lloyd
Yonah.lloyd@stratasys.com +972-74-745-4919
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Erica.massini@stratasys.com +55 (11) 2626-9229
Asia Pacific and Japan Alice Chiu
alice.chiu@stratasys.com +852-9189-7273
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