This post is not about IOT technologies.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is unfolding, I have been researching into mechanical ventilators and trying to understand what makes them so difficult and expensive to produce. We undoubtly build more complex consumer products (iPhone, Semiconductors, Electric Cars, etc...) that we sell for much cheaper. The high price of ventilators does not seem to be because they are hard or expensive to build. But first, let's understand how they work.

Good video about biology of COVID-19:
Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, Diagnostics

Basics of mechanical ventilators

Here are a few videos to go over the basic of mechanical ventilators:

Mechanical Ventilation Explained Clearly

[What is Mechanical Ventilation?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40Shfx1QqTc)

Type of mechanical ventilators

Typically, mechanical ventilators can control the pressure and volume automatically.
A mechanical ventilator has multiple settings based on the condition of the patient.

Here's a good summary about the modes of mechanical ventilation. For example SIMV is a typical setting (Synchronized Intermittent-Mandatory Ventilation).
Modes of mechanical ventilation

ARDS NET protocol

For COVID-19, a potential useful ventilation setting is the ARDS NET protocol.
ARDS NET Protocol: Ventilator Protocol card

Scaling for COVID-19

The question is can we mass produce ventilator to brind down the cost of those devices. Medical devices are highly regulated so this keeps the cost of those devices high (and it has also a small market). But if we open source the design, can bring the cost down and allow more people to benefit from these machines?

Here are a few on-going projects related to ventilators:
https://hackernoon.com/open-source-ventilator-projects-status-challenges-how-you-can-help-j3sw3wy1