EPV update 2020.03.31

Return to Emergency Pandemic Ventilator

Here's the next update, focusing on building a full-sized patient chamber. The arch is made from a 55-gallon drum (which you can get everywhere) sawed in half (so two arches per drum). May need a larger arch for some patients, but it's got room for someone bigger than me (I'm 6'0" / 190 lbs for reference, possibly more with all the snacking recently...) and it can easily be cut shorter if desired. Salvatore Federico ran the numbers, the short version is it should be strong enough to hold even if we got a complete vacuum inside it.

Here are the parts

Here are the parts

If you wanted to bring the chamber up to the face to keep the upper airway inside it, there's room for that

If you wanted to bring the chamber up to the face to keep the upper airway inside it, there's room for that

Then with the "poncho" over the top. In use you would duct tape the edges (or roll and clip like the old Emerson system did), pad the arm/collar and tape around them too. I am not doing that now because the pressure-relief valves aren't tuned yet. At some point I will upload a video crushing something with the vacuum cleaner, poly and duct tape to show how good the seal is, but we won't start with me

Then with the "poncho" over the top. In use you would duct tape the edges (or roll and clip like the old Emerson system did), pad the arm/collar and tape around them too. I am not doing that now because the pressure-relief valves aren't tuned yet. At some point I will upload a video crushing something with the vacuum cleaner, poly and duct tape to show how good the seal is, but we won't start with me

With me in it for scale

With me in it for scale

Here's one arm out for access (if you wanted to combine the higher chamber with an arm out for access you'd cut a hole in the side of the arch)

Here's one arm out for access (if you wanted to combine the higher chamber with an arm out for access you'd cut a hole in the side of the arch)

And finally, there is room for proning the patient

And finally, there is room for proning the patient

This builds on the previous V0.2 prototype.