Tezpur University students design IoT-based portable ventilator to fight Covid-19

Guwahati, May 13 (PTI): Students of Tezpur University in Assam have designed an IoT-based portable ventilator, which will help patients with respiratory ailments breathe easily and overcome the problem of shortage of the life-saving instrument, amid a second wave of Covid-19, an official said on Thursday.

In a bid to address the prevailing Covid situation in the country, the Electrical Engineering department of the varsity has undertaken the initiative to design the Internet of Things enabled portable ventilator, he said. A group of students is working on the project under the guidance of Chiranjit Adhikary, former guest faculty member, and Firdausa Ahmed, guest faculty member, and the project is supervised by prof. Soumik Roy, the head of the department, the varsity said in a statement. “The purpose of the project is to design a portable mechanical ventilator by automating the operation of ‘Ambu Bag’ with volume control ventilation which can be used in respiratory failure,” Roy explained.

An ‘Ambu Bag’ is a hand-held device commonly used to provide positive pressure ventilation to patients, who are not breathing adequately or have a severe problem in breathing. Another important objective of the project is to implement IoT-based features like monitoring of patient activities and controlling parameters of ventilator through a mobile-based application, he said.

The prototype of the ventilator is economical, and by using IoT as a remote controlling feature, one can control and monitor the ventilatory parameters through mobile phones and computers, he said, adding that it will prevent both the clinicians and the doctors from being infected through airborne transmission.

The portable ventilator is a cost-effective instrument and would be available between INR 8,000 and INR 15,000, depending on the features, the statement said. The initiative was part of a project, awarded as the ‘Best Innovative Engineering Idea’ under the banner of professor Aparna Kumar Padmapati Annual Scholarship from Assam Engineering College Class 88 Foundation for the 2020-21 year. It is an initiative of alumni of Assam Engineering College, who passed out in 1988, popularly known as AEC Class 88 Foundation.