Researchers in Iran Locally Design, Develop New Model of Ventilators

A bag valve mask (BVM), sometimes referred to as an Ambu bag, is a handheld tool that is used to deliver positive pressure ventilation to any subject with insufficient or ineffective breaths. It consists of a self-inflating bag, one-way valve, mask, and an oxygen reservoir, a definition available on the internet says.

Alireza Akbari, Master’s Degree Student and the executive director of the project at the mechanical engineering department of Tehran-based Tarbiat Modares University (TMU) to develop the mechanical ventilators said that he and his teammates decided to manufacture the machine after witnessing the increasing need for it in Iran, particularly during the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

“The design and construction of an optimal mechanical ventilators has attracted the attention of researchers in Iran more than in the past,” the researcher said about the project, which was done in the framework of his MS thesis.

He added that his research came in continuation of a similar previous plan to design and build a ventilator machine with high efficiency but cost-effective and simpleified in terms of its mechanical and control system.

“But what singles out this research is using a pneumatic system for automatic controlled expansion and compression of its Ambu bag,” Akbari went on to say. 

“Since there is a central oxygen system in hospitals, our system is capable to make feeding the machine very easily. In the meantime, the cost will be reduced while the continues operation of the machine will be increased. Moreover, the capability to use several compartments with one type of control covers a number of patients, and in emergency cases, it can be equipped very quickly and provide the necessary facilities for a large number of people who are engaged in that situation,” the young TMU researcher said.

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