In a first of its kind, students of IIT Hyderabdad have developed a fully functional, cost effective, and portable and IoT enabled ventilator powered by lithium-ion batteries. The smart ventilator is named ‘Jeevan-Lite’ and is available for commercial use. It was launched on Sunday, by Puducherry and Telengana Governer Tamilisai Soundararajan. The smart ventilators developed by the student’s of IIT Hyderabad only cost 4 lakh rupees against similar imported ventilators that vary in range between 10-15 lakh per unit.
“Maintenance of medical devices was affected due to delay in import of certain parts during the Covid pandemic. Hence, innovations like ‘Jeevan Lite’ will improve the healthcare facilities for the public,” Mr Soundararajan was heard saying.
According to the makers of the ventilator, this smart gadget operates ‘continuous mandatory ventilation’, ‘uninterrupted in synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation’, ‘adaptive and hybrid modes of ventilation for five hours’ and can be both invasive and non-invasive. It can also be operated using smart phone apps. The ventilator has been designed by two bright ‘Biodesign Innovation fellows’ at IIT Hyderabad in the Center for Healthcare Entrepreneurship.
“It has been designed based on the ‘Turbine-driven flow’ method which provides independence from gas cylinders or compressors. It also comes with an integrated nebulizer with auto cut-off precise timer. Jeevan Lite features all the essential modes expected from an advanced ventilation system in one adaptable platform. It also presents a wide range of tools to help you stabilise the patient and wean them off the ventilator,” the higher official at IIT Hyderabad was heard stating.
The ventilator has an ‘intuitive user interface design’ which has every function in a logical order so that the practitioners do not have to browse through a difficult processing system. In addition to its features ‘auto-calving’ is supported by both the calves and flow sensors, a safety feature that has been added keeping in mind the recent medical trends that provide support even in the most critical cases.
The ventilator also shows real-time information of critical lung parameters and breath functions. “It can attach to an oxygen cylinder and operate on its own in ambient air. The accessories and consumables are specially developed for the highest possible patient safety and ease of use. This enables the hospitals and the institutes to choose between reusable and disposable parts, according to their institutional policies,” the senior official added further.
