Technology and COVID-19
Some of the major problems confronting us in the battle against COVID-19 are: the supply of ventilators and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) along with the staffing and infection of doctors and nurses. With the number of COVID-19 cases increasing exponentially around the world, we must develop alternative ways to combat this deadly contagious disease while minimizing risks to doctors, nurses and the general public.
To this end, we should move toward a distributive medical process that places more emphasis on the use of emerging technologies. We should not view this current problem as something that will disappear in the coming months, but rather, as something that will have dire consequences until a viable vaccine is developed.
Recently, I was presumed to have Sleep Apnea and was given a small portable unit that allowed me to test for this condition in the comfort of my home. This unit monitored and recorded the amount of oxygen, rate of breathing, heart rate, and other vital signs in real-time. Although this unit did not include any provisions for breathing, I questioned if Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) or BiPAP machines can be modified and used as a portable ventilator by adding provisions such as force air and carbon dioxide removal.
In recent years, much research has been done in Sleep Apnea with the development of a variety of machines to treat the condition including: the miniaturization and sophistication of machines. For example, the test I took at home would not have been possible years ago. Moreover, some CPAP/BiPAP machines are equipped to provide wireless monitoring of data to remote locations. Such innovations may be helpful in the development of low cost intelligent ventilators. Moreover, there are several portable sources of oxygen that possibly could be used in this endeavor.
Below is a block diagram of such a system. Items in blue represent elements of a portable CPAC/BiPAP system used to test for Sleep Apnea. BiPAP machines differ from CPAP because they help with inhalation and exhalation and therefore more suitable for this application.
Mask
The mask is the central interface to the patient and could provide and remove air from the nose or the mouth.
Controls and Sensors Processing Center
This unit is the brains of the operation. It will monitor the condition of the patient, control the flow of oxygen based on the patient’s condition, track the remaining oxygen and level of carbon dioxide in the repository, set alarms, send data to remote locations,, etc..
Wireless connection and remote monitoring
Nurses and doctors can monitor patients via wireless connection and data could be compiled and arranged to help in trend analysis. The objective is to minimize contact between patients and medical care workers and to streamline the process.
Mechanics and Air Flow Controller
This unit provides the necessary mechanics to control and synchronize breathing of the patient under the direction of the Control and Sensor Processing Unit.
Oxygen tank and Carbon dioxide repository
Oxygen tanks could be portable units design to provide a continuous flow of oxygen to the patient with variable pressure as required. The Carbon dioxide repository is a temporary storage of contaminated air that should be periodically removed and replaced.
Advantages
There are several advantages to this design:
1. It will reduce contact between doctors, nurses and the patient thereby lowering the probability of infection
2. Multitasking: one nurse can simultaneously care for multiple patients. Furthermore, inexpensive autonomous units could be used as force multipliers to offload doctors and nurses
3. Contaminated air is isolated and contained in Carbon dioxide chambers. This further reduces the risk that doctors and nurses will be infected by the disease
4. Machines can be used to help categorize the disease by collecting data across a wide demographic range
3D Printing of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)
3D Printing is another emerging technology that could be used in the battle against COVID-19. These portable manufacturing machines could operate 24/7 with minimal supervision to provide masks, gloves, shields and other supplies desperately needed by the medical community and perhaps by the general public. Moreover, 3D printers could be set up in hospitals to alleviate bottlenecks in the supply chain. 3D printers can also be used to help in the manufacture of parts needed to modify CPAP/BiPAP machines.
A matter of scale
One of the problems that we are facing is one of scale, therefore, we must develop alternative measures to combat this unprecedented problem. If millions will be infected over a period of several months, we must scale up to meet the inevitable demand. Until a vaccine is developed, social measures and the use of technology are perhaps the only options available. Of course, failure is not an option!
I have not studied the medical application and logistics in great detail, e.g., costs, flow rates, manufacturing, and this is just a preliminary top-level design using Occam’s razor as a guide. Although it may over simplify the problem, it is an attempt to think out of the box and leverage existing technologies to reduce humans in the loop and to provide food for thought for other engineers and scientists yearning to answer the technical clarion call of our times.
