VENTILATORS FROM BIPAPS
LEE FRIESLAND FOR VIRGINIA TECH
To meet the need for ventilators , several labs combined their capabilities to create the possibility of converting machines normally made to help those with sleep apnea into ventilators . The labs of Christopher Williams , Joseph Meadows , and Alfred Wicks worked with the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine to create unique pieces that made it possible to repurpose bilevel positive airway pressure ( BiPAP ) machines into ventilators in the event of a shortage .
At left , students Ashwin Kumar and Austin Guevara work together to work on the component that monitors air flow .
Read more about the project : https :// bit . ly / 34WDnFO
COURTESY ROD LA FOY
AN EFFECTIVE , REUSABLE MASK
Mechanical engineering Ph . D . student Rod La Foy wears a novel respirator and holds up a circular set of 3D-printed molds used to shape new respirator shells . Led by Chris Williams , head of the Design , Research , and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems Laboratory , a team of Virginia Tech mechanical engineering graduate students has created a reusable respirator using rapid tooling and 3D printing resources from on-campus maker spaces and research labs .
In efficacy tests run by Blacksburg company NanoSafe , the design has performed as well as or better than an N95 . As the team adjusts the final design , they ’ re making sure that their tools and fabrication methods can be scaled up for rapid production .
Read more about the project : https :// bit . ly / 31PCz3t
VIRGINIA TECH MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT • 2019-2020 • FIGHTING COVID-19 61