A low-cost, helmet-based, non-invasive ventilator for COVID-19

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has created an unprecedented need for breathing assistance devices. Since the demand for commercial, full-featured ventilators is far higher than the supply capacity, many rapid-response ventilators are being developed for invasive mechanical ventilation of patients. Most of these emergency ventilators utilize mechanical squeezing of bag-valve-masks or Ambu-bags. These "bag squeezer" designs are bulky and heavy, depends on many moving parts, and difficulty to assemble and use. Also, invasive ventilation requires intensive care unit support, which may be unavailable to a vast majority of patients, especially in developing countries. In this work, we present a low-cost ($<$\$200), portable (fits in an 8"x8"x4" box), non-invasive ventilator (NIV), designed to provide relief to early-stage COVID-19 patients in low-resource settings. We used a high-pressure blower fan for providing noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation. Our design supports continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) modes. A common concern of using CPAP or BiPAP for treating COVID-19 patients is the aerosolization of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We used a helmet-based solution that contains the spread of the virus. Our end-to-end solution is compact, low-cost ($<$\$400 including the helmet, viral filters, and a valve), and easy-to-use. Our NIV provides 0-20 cmH$_{2}$O pressure with flow rates of 60-180 Lmin$^{-1}$. We hope that our report will encourage implementations and further studies on helmet-based NIV for treating COVID-19 patients in low-resource settings.