MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Affordable Effective Ventilator

One-line solution summary:

A low cost automatic ventilator made from low cost material but works like high end incumbent ones, is sensitive to individual patient needs

Pitch your solution.

1) This low cost but effective ventilator solves the shortage of critical equipment such as ventilator necessary for ICU and for pandemics

2) a low cost, high efficiency, automatic and easy to assemble, transport and operate ventilator hat can be made in a short space of time

3) will add to the ventilators in service and stockpile at all medical facilities globally, currently there is a shortage and it will be used to assist the demand and can for the interim be used to deal with the current shortage.

What specific problem are you solving?

Developing a low cost and easy to maintain, use and operate automatic ventilator is now in this current time in history needed globally in large numbers, every country in the world is in need of these devices and most of the countries have a very significant and dangerous shortage. Many lives can be solved during a pandemic because many respiratory related issues can be effectively dealt with. Scalability; globally.

What is your solution?

1) it’s a ventilator that assists patients who are unable to breathe to do so in life saving effort, often in ICU instances.

2) this ventilator functions just like the $45,000 price tagged current and incumbent machines and will cost just a fraction of this amount.

3) it will work automatic and will be sensitive and will self adjust to the patient’s immediate and varying conditions. The main purpose is to assist with breathing and to ensure it doesn’t choke the patient or reduce the supply.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

currently the ventilator is needed globally and for as long as the pandemic is still on. Third world nations will need these low cost devices in large numbers, the western world has demonstrated it also dearly needs these devices. These are at the moment, what will turn the tide against this virus until a vaccine is found and will with other social safety measures and precautions, save humanity.

Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Challenge.

this is perfectly aligned to the challenge as it addresses the readiness and resources needed in a pandemic state which we are currently are in. This low cost but very effective ventilator will save lives and will use very basic material but they will address very pertinent aspects that together culminate to the wellbeing of a patient with suppressed breathing or under a respiratory disease attack or in this case, pandemic.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Pretoria, South Africa

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Concept: An idea being explored for its feasibility to build a product, service, or business model based on that idea

Who is the primary delegate for your solution?

Francis Njekwa

More About Your Solution

Which of the following categories best describes your solution?

A new technology

Describe what makes your solution innovative.

ventilators at this point are being designed by just about every capable and willing company or individual and so very challenging to name.

What makes this different and innovative is that it uses a new way of supplying oxygen to the patient. A new way that also eliminates too much dependency on electronics and computer programs. Basically the change on the energy that makes all the mechanical aspects function has removed the very complex electrical and electronics side of those device without reducing the sensitivity needed to keep a patient from receiving the oxygen. It self adjusts to the patent’s minute or second to second needs without too complex monitoring systems and works automatically thereby relieving the medical staff and enabling them to attend to multiple patients at that time.

Describe the core technology that powers your solution.

the technology is simply using the natural energy created, using it to self regulate and sob translate and so self govern with the aide of empirical data of behavior of certain elements and so regulation of oxygen without compromising its quality and without misaligning the pressure parameters which will self suit to the lung capacity needed to keep the patient stable and alive. This is basically cutting down the costs of producing a ventilator. The ventilator will not require high skills to operate but will always work on two principles, the stable condition of the patient (heathy state) and then an overide function that kicks in when the perceived healthy state is deemed unsafe to sustain life based on collected data over the course of ventilator use in relation to standard thresholds long established in the medical field. Such as pressure and oxygen quality, harmony of supply with the responses of the patient.

Provide evidence that this technology works.

I have no proof to give now, if asked for further information and if asked to supply this under non disclosure agreement and with assurance of IP protection then I will supply.

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

Imaging and Sensor Technology
Manufacturing Technology
Materials Science
Software and Mobile Applications

What is your theory of change?

as we all are aware, ventilators are is great need. Once found to be well situated to meet this demand, there is a great need for this device so that it is almost a call for every person to find an innovative way of making low cost and effective ventilators that can be deployed in a pandemic time. Most novel technology don’t have any real prior example. Throughout the application no part has mentioned in protection of IP and hence the little supply of information.

Select the key characteristics of your target population.

Women & Girls
Pregnant Women
LGBTQ+
Infants
Children & Adolescents
Elderly
Rural
Peri-Urban
Urban
Poor
Low-Income
Middle-Income
Refugees & Internally Displaced Persons
Minorities & Previously Excluded Populations
Persons with Disabilities

Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?

3. Good Health and Well-Being
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

In which countries do you currently operate?

South Africa

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

South Africa

How many people does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?

there is no telling the effects of this pandemic but projections show

1)2 million

2) double

3) 10 million

What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?

the goal is to ensure that the medical facilities around South Africa but actually globally, can have alternatives to the incumbent ventilators so that these alternatives can be put in storage and also used whenever needed so that operators can be acquainted so that they can be better prepared for a pandemic

What barriers currently exist for you to accomplish your goals in the next year and in the next five years?

$10,000 ian needed to build the first one (the final p will go for about $2000 upon mass production)

2) lack of 3D printer access for parts

3) lack of electronics and software to operate this device

4) lack of specialist sign off of the good functionality of this device

How do you plan to overcome these barriers?

$10,000 need- look for funding

2) lack of 3D printer access for parts - source funding and use funds to pay for this

3) lack of electronics and software to operate this device- use open source

4) lack of specialist sign off of the good functionality of this device - pitch to these specialists and if I win this competition will leverage that to get necessary vantage when pitching for sign offs even though the science will be indisputable and irrefutable

About Your Team

Your Business Model & Funding

Partnership & Prize Funding Opportunities