Bray engineer in team to develop ventilator

COLIN KEOGH IS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE OPEN SOURCE VENTILATOR PROJECT TO DESIGN AND MAKE LOW COST VENTILATORS

NEARLY 5,000 people so far have expressed interest in helping the Open Source Ventilator project, founded two weeks ago by Bray engineer Colin Keogh and two of his friends.

The team acknowledged the severe shortage of ventilators around the globe to treat patients, and is now looking to develop easy-to-assemble, low-cost ventilators using 3D printing.

Colin’s computer hasn’t been turned off in over a fortnight, and he has only left his home to get food.

‘We’ve had a huge response,’ said Colin, who lives on the seafront and is a past pupil of St Kilian’s Community School.

‘So far we have more than 2,300 members on our slack channel, with nearly 5,000 expressions of interest via our website,’ he said.

By 2017, Colin had been named as one of Forbes 30 under 30 in the area of science and medicine, and was named a Nissan Generation Next Ambassador.

He said then that he was determined to change the world by using science and technology to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, utilises low cost disruptive technologies to make an impact on global issues.

‘We’ve spoken to some of the biggest companies in the world offering to help with roll-out and design, as well as government departments, regulations bodies, medical professionals and engineers,’ said Colin.

They are working with a number of large global organisations which they can’t name yet, and have nine concept designs finished, with the focus on two in particular.

These two are being prototyped around the world, to undergo functional testing as soon as possible.

They have also connected with most of the other teams working on similar projects to share information and results.

Colin said that they started the project as online open source and ran it through Facebook,

They decided to focus operationally in Ireland and have a close team tackling problems and getting input, with partners also overseas and in America. ‘It is fully open and everyone can see designs as we go,’ he said.

People have come forward in vast numbers to volunteer their time and expertise to come up with a viable solution.

‘We have seven concept ideas that all work over a bag valve mask. We are trying to automate the squeezing of the bag to control the flow of oxygen and air pressure.’

He said that they will need to manufacture parts and look at testing equipment to prove that the base concept will be useful and be able to provide enough air and pressure.

‘As soon as that’s done we’ll go back out to all the partners and look at trying to scale it up and ad safety features.’

Colin said that they have been engaging with regulatory bodies to see how they may regulate the device.

The project has made huge progress in little over two weeks. ‘That sort of progress normally takes years and thousands if not millions to achieve. We just don’t have the time for that,’ said Colin.

‘At the same time, it is a medical device so it needs to be as structured and regulated as possible, with the recognition that the need is growing every day.’

He said that the device would be an emergency solution for the worst case scenario, and hopefully not required in Ireland. ‘Some of the developing countries don’t have the same resources,’ he said. ‘If it’s a choice between nothing and something, we hope there is something there.

‘We have to try,’ he said, on what is motivating the team to move forward at such a pace. ‘If the problem gets worse in a couple of weeks we want to have a lot of work done and not just be starting.

Colin has worked for years as an engineer, in the areas of innovation, tech development, 3D printing and open and creative innovation work. ‘This is exactly up my street,’ he said.

He spoke to his friends Conall Laverty and David Pollard and they all felt they could do something to help the global emergency situation. ‘It really is a global effort,’ said Colin, who said that people all over the world are working with the same purpose and sharing information.

To sign up to help the project, go to opensourceventilator.ie.