With space missions taking a back seat during the pandemic, the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) here at Thumba has turned its attention to ventilators.
A multi-disciplinary team at VSSC, which is the lead unit of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for launch vehicles, has come up with three different ventilator models, of which two are undergoing tests.
The first two types consist of an automated, bag valve mask model and another one based on an in-house design fully developed by the VSSC.
Tests under way
Tests are under way on both. “The second model, based on our own design, does not use battery back-up and works on compressed air. We have built a prototype which is undergoing tests,” an official said. This model employs electricity only on a small-scale and that too for the displays.
The third model, on which work is in progress, is part of a long-term initiative to develop a sophisticated, India-make ventilator for replacing high-end, imported models used in hospitals.
For this project to develop a more advanced, blower-based model, VSSC is collaborating with the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), its sister ISRO agency in Thiruvananthapuram, an official said.
The multi-disciplinary team working on the ventilator project comprises staff drawn from multiple divisions of the ISRO units.
In launching work on the life-saving devices which help patients breathe, ISRO had responded to a Central government call for ensuring adequate numbers for treating the more severe COVID-19 cases.
Demand up
Globally too, the demand for ventilators had shot up as the pandemic cases began piling up. More recently, a ventilator developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The VSSC and other ISRO units in Thiruvananthapuram had asked most of their staff to stay home from March 23, given the scenario in Kerala.
Following the lockdown, the VSSC has also been manufacturing sanitiser and face masks for combating the pandemic.
