New Open Source Ventilator Reference Design to Overcome the Critical Shortage of Ventilators During COVID-19

Published  April 17, 2020   0
Open Source Ventilator System

The Renesas Electronics Corporation has introduced a new open-source ventilator system reference design that the customers can use to swiftly design ready to assemble boards for medical ventilators. To meet the demand of ventilators during COVID-19, Renesas’ engineers tried several open-source ventilator designs, including the Medtronic PB560, to come up with an easy to assemble three board ventilator design. The portable and gas tank free ventilator can control the tidal volume and mixture of gas delivered to the patient, at the same time, it also monitors the patient’s status. A humidifier can be connected to the ventilator’s intake path to soothe the patient’s breathing, making it more comfortable to be connected for long durations.

The reference design uses 20 Renesas ICs, consisting of a microcontroller (MCU), power, and analog ICs that satisfies the many single-chain electrical functions of the ventilator. The device is designed with a sensor board, a motor control board, and features Bluetooth connectivity that allows the medical professionals to monitor several patients at the same time with the help of a tablet or other mobile device. Each board in the ventilator is designed with a Microcontroller (MCU) to control its specific task and also to monitor the status of the connecting board. For more information about the ventilator system reference design, visit the website of Renesas Electronics.