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Firstly, we sincerely Thank our project’s supporters, collaborators and well-wishers to catalyze this ventilator development effort! All of us jointly hope firstly to ensure that the situation in India does not get out of hand, and secondly that we are well-prepared in the worst case situation unfolds.
Here is a brief summary with some exciting engineering updates on this Covid India Ventilator Development project.
The project is progressing rapidly with the Timetooth and collaborators’ teams working long hours on a war-footing to make this contribution valuable to the COVID-19 situation. The deep technical research into the nuances of ventilator engineering has led to a huge confidence boost.
Also, Timetooth is actively involved in various COVID-19 related products and ventilator development groups in India. Many of the teams are converging now to some common directions. The importance of following aspects seems to be critical:
- Covid-19 patient medical requirements should drive the ventilator specifications
- Reliability (Longer Mean Time Between Failure) of the Ventilator is critical
- Medical certification/acceptance procedures in India are still gearing up
- Qualification Test Planning (Test Schedule as well as Test Facilities) need to be mapped before-hand
The Timetooth initiative has focussed on these aspects from the beginning and it has been reassuring to know that we are on the right path.
On the other hand, the challenges experienced by all ventilator initiatives also have a common thread, and Timetooth also has not been able to escape these challenges:
- Critical medical grade component sourcing: Some of these have to be imported and lead times for such are long
- The lock-down restrictions have also been curtailing various hardware related procurement, lab trials and tests.
The project activities and the time plan is also summarized below:
| No. | Activity Stage | Begin | Finish |
| 1 | Requirements Definition | April 1 | April 13 |
| 2 | System Configuration Engineering | April 6 | May 4 |
| 3 | Critical Components Source Identification | April 13 | May 4 |
| 4 | Configuration Finalization & Freeze | April 27 | May 4 |
| 5 | Long Lead Item Sourcing Order placements | April 13 | May 4 |
| 6 | Qualification Test (QT) Plan and Facility Identification | April 13 | May 18 |
| 7 | Functional Test (FT) Validation Test Plan and Test Rigs design | April 27 | May 18 |
| 8 | Long Lead Items delivery | April 27 | May 30 |
| 9 | Engineering Design : Mechanical, Electronics and Pneumatics | April 20 | May 25 |
| 10 | Engineering Design : Software (Embedded, UI, HMI) | April 20 | May 25 |
| 11 | Engineering Design : Simulations and Control Strategy | April 20 | May 25 |
| 12 | FMEA & Design Modifications | April 27 | May 18 |
| 13 | Detailed Design (Drawings & BoM) Release | May 4 | May 25 |
| 14 | Prototype Component Manufacturing & Sourcing | May 11 | Jun 8 |
| 15 | System Integration | May 25 | Jun 8 |
| 16 | Functional Validation Testing (Components and System) | May 11 | Jun 15 |
| 17 | Design Fine-tuning & Final Testing | Jun 8 | Jun 15 |
| 18 | Formal Qualification Testing | Jun 15 | Jun 29 |
| 19 | FT & QT Reports and Certification Documentation | Jun 22 | Jul 6 |
| 20 | Documentation (Specs, Design, Testing, Manuals, Reports) | Apr 13 | Jul 6 |
| 21 | Design Modifications for Volume Manufacturing | Jun 1 | Jul 6 |
| 22 | Design Release for Volume Manufacturing | Jun 29 | Jul 6 |
All the activities planned till date have been completed, especially the critical long lead items finalization and their order placements.
Overall, the project is in full momentum on the engineering side. The above timeplan considers the right choices Timetooth team has been making in the development approach, and also the on-ground challenges that are being faced in hardware procurement. Hence, it provides a realistic picture of the project time-frame as per current visibility. Considering the medical grade development being attempted, the above timelines may still be considered lightning fast!
At this stage, we are excited to share the critical Pneumatic Circuit design and a first glimpse of the the mechanical enclosure design on the webpage here. We have also shared some of the critical features addressing the COVID-19 ventilator requirements.
The project still has a long way to go. So, all collaboration and support is appreciated and welcome.