SA brainiacs design new ventilators to use in Covid-19 fight

Academic institutions in South Africa are joining the global fight against the novel coronavirus by collaborating to produce mechanically operated ventilators, in order to stay ahead of the anticipated demand for the life-saving equipment.

At the University of the North West, Professor Leenta Grobler is part of a team of engineers working with fellow academics from the Central University of Technology and Vaal University who had developed a non-invasive ventilator which did not need electricity. The technology was developed by reverse-engineering a 1960s model which was used in the world’s first intensive care systems in the Second World War.

“Of course they are very simple devices which require no electricity to operate. They are powered by air and basically you can use them to ventilate a patient based on some manual settings which also don’t require any electricity. These universities have collaborated to reverse-engineer the original ventilator using state-of-the-art CT- scanning technology which Nexus has assisted us with,” said Grobler.

“We are working with Professor Johan De Beer who is the chair of the Commercialisation and Manufacturing department, to use 3D printing in order to manufacture some of the parts in a completely new way, and then we will be able to update them in order to meet the requirements of the World Health Organization.”

Grobler says government had sourced proposals to provide around 10,000 ventilators nationwide to deal with the crisis. She said the NWU was also assisting government by providing technology for the remote monitoring of conventional ventilators, because the country has a shortage of qualified ICU nurses.

The NWU team and its collaborators have already developed other products to relieve the healthcare system and the healthcare workers, who are on the frontlines as they deal with the pandemic.

Various officials in the Potchefstroom healthcare system have requested face shields, as there is already a shortage at the facilities.

The NWU team is currently manufacturing and distributing face shields free of charge to health workers in the area around Potchefstroom. “These face shields are provided as an additional layer of protection to be worn over existing masks and goggles, since they cover the whole face of the healthcare professional with a transparent material,” said Grobler.

A multi-disciplinary team of young engineers based at the Propella Business Incubator in Port Elizabeth also developed a low-cost bag mask ventilator they call the Salutaris.

The device was developed to fill the urgent need for low-cost non-invasive ventilators for less serious cases of the Covid-19 disease, thus freeing up the expensive units used in intensive care units for those in need of advanced care. They also hope to manufacture and sell the device for less than R5,000 each, as the goal is not to turn a profit, but to provide help in an emergency.

The Propella team was also linked to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, which is working on a similar concept.

“A number of teams around the world have announced ventilators which appear to be functional, but where the Salutaris differs is that it is a highly engineered solution designed from the outset for manufacture with full production and cost optimisation in mind,” says Engeli Enterprise Development operations director Wayne Oosthuizen.

Simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

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