Ecuador presents its own mechanical fan to the world

The global health emergency began to run humanity against the number of fatalities by this coronavirus first reported in Wuhan ( China ). To date, globally there are 358,235 deaths. For its part, Ecuador registers 3,313 from covid-19 and 2,136 other deaths from probable cause of this virus.

Ecuador presents its own mechanical fan to the world

All countries, regardless of their economy, have faced problems due to the lack of mechanical ventilators for the most serious patients against a respiratory virus , still unknown by scientists.

This was the motivation for a group of engineers in the country, including a Colombian and a Cuban, to unite to give an answer as soon as possible to the health problem .

After more than 70 days of the emergency , the team will be presented to the country this Friday, May 29, 2020. Then it must go through a process that is looming complex for its registration and large-scale production.

The engineer César Naranjo describes that they have worked voluntarily during this period with the purpose of saving lives . At the beginning there were 25 and then, due to the same situation, some retired along the way until there were 14, who are part of the group of engineers they call “I don’t give up.”

At this point they highlight the support from various State portfolios, such as the Minister of Culture, Juan Fernando Velasco ; of the Municipality and the Khare Foundation, among other actors. They also highlight the visit of Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner to boost financial cooperation with the project.

For M.Sc Francisco Astudillo, this might not have been possible in countries like Argentina, Mexico or Peru , with more resources, but it happened in Ecuador due to the altruism of all those who joined and supported. “This has been a miracle, to get to make a machine of a technology like this, where 40 years of technology have passed in 70 days,” he says when evaluating this event.

It all started in the parking lot of the Eugenio Espejo Convention Center in Quito . There they got a lot of information about broken machines and started to innovate their own. To do this, they made about 12 prototypes until they were created.

In addition to guaranteeing the need of the health system , the country could collaborate with others and start its production on a large scale to generate income. “Now they need authorization. This is not a private venture, it will be for the country, “said Astudillo.

The team even manages the contact of a company that could do the production of the respirators at a rate of 100 every day. “I think a technological limbo was broken and no one expected that,” said Naranjo.

Both agree that social responsibility and a sense of humanism were decisive in the face of the need to save lives in this pandemic.

The fan was built with attachments that the food industry uses to lower the cost, right now. They say that the COE will need to give the go-ahead and streamline processes from Arcsa for its urgent production and use in hospitals .

Supplies
This machine has valves and pressure regulators, instrumentation sensors adapted by engineers.

Operation
Air flow and frequency are controlled from a 15-inch touch screen, managed by the specialist doctor.

Limiting
A limitation in the clinical trial is that the attending physician has previous experiences. ( I )