Progress and other good Coronavirus news

[billy.pilgrim]

http://eng.auburn.edu/reinvent

WGDMFE

"A team of Auburn University engineering professors, students and alumni have successfully re-purposed a standard CPAP machine into a functional emergency ventilator for health care providers potentially coping with ventilator shortages during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. The team’s research goal was to develop a robust and reliable option for an emergency ventilator that could be assembled using readily available commercial off-the-shelf components combined with a home CPAP machine."

"Built with approximately $700 worth of components, the RE-INVENT is an accessory designed to pair with, and modify, a common household CPAP machine."


But sadly, no profits for jared

[billy.pilgrim]

Tesla Ventilator: https://youtu.be/zZbDg24dfN0


Plenty of press for Tesla, but why no interest in the Auburn $700 redesign of a c-pap machine? There are thousands of them in warehouses and stores everywhere.


There really needs to be challenges from the top to confront this thing. And when something useful happens, promote it.

[O Really]

Still only about 1,300 reported "official" cases in San Diego County. So if that's really 13,000, it's still out of a population of 3.3 million. Not bad.

Washington thinks it's curve is indeed flattening - so much so they're sending 400 ventilators to NY.

New secession plan: States that jumped on distancing and other measures early. The new country will consist of California, Oregon and Washington. (Maybe some cleaning up of some northeast counties in WA before they're allowed in.) California is said to be the 5th largest economy in the world, and by itself would be about the 35th-ish largest country. Add in Oregon and Washington, establish mostly open borders for Canada and Mexico with easy-to-get work visas, and you've got a world leader.

[Vrede too]

... New secession plan: States that jumped on distancing and other measures early. The new country will consist of California, Oregon and Washington. (Maybe some cleaning up of some northeast counties in WA before they're allowed in.) California is said to be the 5th largest economy in the world, and by itself would be about the 35th-ish largest country. Add in Oregon and Washington, establish mostly open borders for Canada and Mexico with easy-to-get work visas, and you've got a world leader.

Ecotopia

Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston is a utopian novel by Ernest Callenbach, published in 1975. The society described in the book is one of the first ecological utopias and was influential on the counterculture and the green movement in the 1970s and thereafter. The author himself claimed that the society he depicted in the book is not a true utopia (in the sense of a perfect society), but, while guided by societal intentions and values, was imperfect and in-process....

Plot summary

... . The new nation of Ecotopia consists of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington; it is hinted that Southern California is a lost cause....

Very popular in my crowd at the time, though we were disappointed that the Northern Rockies were excluded.

[neoplacebo]

Anything with a motor on it can be made into a ventilator if one so desires. All that's needed is a rapidly vibrating diaphragm and some plastic tubing.

[billy.pilgrim]

Anything with a motor on it can be made into a ventilator if one so desires. All that's needed is a rapidly vibrating diaphragm and some plastic tubing.

Yet they run $10,000 to $20,000 even though we contracted with a company to produce them for $3,000 - which they did, a car company is making them and a couple of college kids can make one using a $2,000 co-pay machine and $700 in spare parts


It makes not even a little sense to me

[O Really]

It makes not even a little sense to me

Follow the money.

[O Really]

Plot summary

... . The new nation of Ecotopia consists of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington; it is hinted that Southern California is a lost cause....

Very popular in my crowd at the time, though we were disappointed that the Northern Rockies were excluded.
[/quote]
I could see why they might have given up on Southern California back then - "LA" and "smog" were synonymous. Maybe they gave up too soon, though - they'd probably be surprised to find there is 40% less smog now with twice as many cars.
https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-air ... llery.html

[neoplacebo]

It makes not even a little sense to me

Follow the money.

In that case, no one's going to be looking for me. In other virus news, I saw this story about the football coach whose biggest fan is the cat pan. Evidently, Sweeney is running on a full tank of faith. Cat man loves it.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/clems ... yptr=yahoo

[Vrede too]

Yet they run $10,000 to $20,000 even though we contracted with a company to produce them for $3,000 - which they did, a car company is making them and a couple of college kids can make one using a $2,000 co-pay machine and $700 in spare parts

It makes not even a little sense to me

Your SpellCheck turned CPAP machine into "co-pay machine".

A guess: No one will use it based on the creators' say-so. There needs to be thorough testing and govt approval. Even with emergency exemptions this is not instantaneous. It may even have to wait for the next crisis.

[billy.pilgrim]

Yet they run $10,000 to $20,000 even though we contracted with a company to produce them for $3,000 - which they did, a car company is making them and a couple of college kids can make one using a $2,000 co-pay machine and $700 in spare parts

It makes not even a little sense to me

Your SpellCheck turned CPAP machine into "co-pay machine".

A guess: No one will use it based on the creators' say-so. There needs to be thorough testing and govt approval. Even with emergency exemptions this is not instantaneous. It may even have to wait for the next crisis.

Yes it did

c-pap

[billy.pilgrim]

It makes not even a little sense to me

Follow the money.

In that case, no one's going to be looking for me. In other virus news, I saw this story about the football coach whose biggest fan is the cat pan. Evidently, Sweeney is running on a full tank of faith. Cat man loves it.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/clems ... yptr=yahoo

Looks like he violated Florida's 14 day quarantine law, quick call a cop.

[Vrede too]

Your SpellCheck turned CPAP machine into "co-pay machine"....

Yes it did

c-pap

I meant AutoCorrect, not "SpellCheck".

I would like to have my own co-pay machine, though.

[Vrede too]

... I have an industrial quality Binks air compressor in my home workshop. I could run a line from that to my bedroom, and then fabricate some sort of switch/metering in/out device to have it send brief pulses of air to a rubber face mask, with provision for exhale. Hopefully whoever is wearing the mask would not blow up like a balloon.

If one is using a face mask an unmodified CPAP will do. I have not heard of a shortage of them, though it may be coming as they're pressed into service when we run out of ventilators, which are used with endotracheal (breathing) tubes. The CPAPs won't be sufficient for some.

[Vrede too]

What I read a few weeks ago was that even a ventilator isn't enough on its own. Some patient's lungs and chest muscles fight the respirator. These patients have to have to be paralyzed on order for the ventilator to do its job. Sounds horrific but I suppose necessary to save lives. Something like 50% don't survive that treatment, or so I read.

It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood.

Neither surprises me.
Paralytics, along with sedation, are common with short-ish term ventilated patients.
Survival must be rare given the scenes I've seen of staff lining the hallways to applaud patients that have been extubated and/or extubated and discharged.

[O Really]

What I read a few weeks ago was that even a ventilator isn't enough on its own. Some patient's lungs and chest muscles fight the respirator. These patients have to have to be paralyzed on order for the ventilator to do its job. Sounds horrific but I suppose necessary to save lives. Something like 50% don't survive that treatment, or so I read.

It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood.

Neither surprises me.
Paralytics, along with sedation, are common with short-ish term ventilated patients.
Survival must be rare given the scenes I've seen of staff lining the hallways to applaud patients that have been extubated and/or extubated and discharged.

I read if you go on the ventilator you've got about a 20% chance of survival. And of the ones who apparently survive, many will still die within 6 months. Pretty bleak. Better to not get the virus. "Stay in your fucking house"

[neoplacebo]

Anything with a motor on it can be made into a ventilator if one so desires. All that's needed is a rapidly vibrating diaphragm and some plastic tubing.

Why vibrating? I would think one would be better with a diaphragm that pushes air in and out at the same frequency as regular human breathing.

In that regard, I have an industrial quality Binks air compressor in my home workshop. I could run a line from that to my bedroom, and then fabricate some sort of switch/metering in/out device to have it send brief pulses of air to a rubber face mask, with provision for exhale. Hopefully whoever is wearing the mask would not blow up like a balloon.

Well, in general, motors utilize up and down or back and forth or in and out motion to perform work. What I was initially thinking about was how an aquarium air pump works; a vibrating lever with a rubber diaphragm (air tight) fixed to it that generates a pulsing of air through the attached plastic tubing. Your air compressor would also serve; just have to throttle it down so you would not be trying to breathe at a rate similar to how you would have to drink from a full blast water hose. Another idea I had is to put distressed patients in an area of negative air pressure....this is how hot labs are configured, as it prevents anything from inside getting out or anything outside from getting in. The same concept I apply to the act of breathing in the sense that I assume it would be easier to breathe in a lower air pressure environment. Third option is to wear one of those extremely heavy diving suits with the bubble helmet and large air hose but those would be a last resort.

[billy.pilgrim]

So why isn't the big dumbass hyping some contest for innovative ideas? the ratings would be huge, bigger than any before and after.

[neoplacebo]

So why isn't the big dumbass hyping some contest for innovative ideas? the ratings would be huge, bigger than any before and after.

I will guess that he's afraid that someone (other than him) will be given credit for anything positive that may happen. Besides, he's already got Jared the whirling dervish bull bugging the health professionals with lame brain ideas and dipshit schemes that they have to stop what they're doing and explain to him why his idea won't work or why his idea is fucking stupid.

[neoplacebo]

Well, in general, motors utilize up and down or back and forth or in and out motion to perform work. What I was initially thinking about was how an aquarium air pump works; a vibrating lever with a rubber diaphragm (air tight) fixed to it that generates a pulsing of air through the attached plastic tubing. Your air compressor would also serve; just have to throttle it down so you would not be trying to breathe at a rate similar to how you would have to drink from a full blast water hose. Another idea I had is to put distressed patients in an area of negative air pressure....this is how hot labs are configured, as it prevents anything from inside getting out or anything outside from getting in. The same concept I apply to the act of breathing in the sense that I assume it would be easier to breathe in a lower air pressure environment. Third option is to wear one of those extremely heavy diving suits with the bubble helmet and large air hose but those would be a last resort.

Um, relatively cheap air compressors, especially the "oil-less" type do use a sort of vibrating mechanism. I presume. But the industrial ones I've seen use pistons and cylinders. Presumably because they are more efficient. Mine has a piston. And it uses a non-detergent motor oil. It has a big 30 gallon pressure storage tank, so one would want to have some sort of mechanism to adjust the air pressure (readily available) and to meter it out in a human compatible rhythm. I already have a pressure adjusting device, although one of the connections is cracked so I've had to bypass it. But there are others in the shop; pressure regulators are relatively common in any workshop. Mostly I used the compressor for filling car tires or in a bead blaster cabinet.

Anyway, I have medical coverage so if I need a respirator I'll be hoping my plan will get me one. I did scope out oxygen generators (expensive) and oxygen bottles (might have one of those in the shop already as part of a welding kit I got a while ago).

Well, my whole point is that something like a respirator should not be that difficult to make, and that the lack of enough of them should not be a cause for panic. We both concur that it is a relatively simple device. Actually, just an oxygen tank with the right type of pressure regulator and connective lines could serve as a respirator. If I remember correctly, when I was in the hospital for the bypass surgery, they put an oxygen line around my head with two little nozzles that fit under your nose. The other end was hooked to a socket on the wall, which in turn had to have been a connection to a bank of oxygen tanks and pressure regulators located somewhere else in the hospital. Granted, this arrangement does not constitute a "respirator" in the sense that there's no "assist" to the delivery of the oxygen, but that, too, is just a matter of regulating pressure or even just alternating the correct amount of pressure (assist) with no pressure (no assist) at the appropriate intervals of time. The biggest problem the US has with the availability of these devices and with drugs or anything else is that the leaders of our country (corporate lobbyists) have managed to decimate the manufacturing capacity of this country to the extent that not much is made here anymore other than guns, cars, planes, and military gimcracks.