University of New Mexico graduate students Mostafa Peysokhan and Maryam Bahmani created a simple ventilator design in mid-April with hopes of helping hospitals low on ventilators.
The homemade ventilator “CorVent” was designed to be cheap and easy to create, with little tools necessary.
“We decided to design a very simple and inexpensive ventilator that anyone in any part of the world can easily make,” Bahmani said.
The married couple released the design for free online.
“Everyone can use it. We do not want to make money from it,” Bahmani said.
The design requires less than ten parts and costs around $60 to make. Peysokhan said it took five hours for him and his wife to make on their own.
“It was so easy. It was like making a cake,” Bahmani said.
CorVent has two main parts: the mechanical ventilator and the oxygen source. The device needs water and electricity to run.
Two essential features of the ventilator include an adjustable rate of breathing and an adjustable volume level, according to Peysokhan.
“We want to reach to people who live in poor countries,” Bahmani said.
Peysokhan’s website lists the problems of manual ventilators: manual ventilation is not possible for an extended period of time, wears out nurses and has an inconsistent rate of ventilation.
The idea for the design started when the couple was researching ventilators and realized most of them are either too complicated or expensive, according to Bahmani.
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The couple then started fundraising for the parts they would need for their own design, starting with about $700 from donations as well as their own funds. They ordered everything they needed online.
Both Bahmani and Peysokhan had previous experience with patented devices that helped them create this design.
Bahmani said there are possible plans in the future to make a design with an alternative for an Ambu bag because not everyone has access to Ambu bags, according to international communication they received.
“We’re already shocked about how much attention we get,” Bahmani said.
The couple said they want to reach out to larger news networks like BBC and CNN so more people can have access to the design.
“We want to make sure that most people know that there is a simple ventilator,” Bahmani said.
Additional help in the project came from Susan Cornelius, Peysokhan’s mentor during UNM Lobo Rainforest I-Corps, and Cara Michaliszyn.
Megan Gleason is a beat reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @fabflutist2716
