The Federal Polytechnic Ilaro (FPI), Ogun State, Nigeria, has invented and manufactured a ventilator using locally sourced materials.
Olusegun Aluko, Rector of the Institution, who announced the development, said it took the team seven days to produce the medical equipment, which is a major device in the treatment and management of the coronavirus pandemic.
Aluko explained that the device was the result of the challenge he gave a team of professionals including doctors and engineers in the institution to find a solution to the shortage of ventilators in the country as the global demand for ventilator rises amid the coronavirus pandemic.
He said that the team took a week to design a functional ventilator, which cost less than one million Naira to produce.
“It took us one week through trial and error. Now there is no trial again; all the information that we used are documented. All we just need to do now is to feed them into the system, start mass producing and coupling them.
“If we can produce this one within one week, with all the research, that means in a matter of two days we should be able to produce one.”
He added that the institution has the wherewithal to train other members of staff of institutions across the country.
This, he believed, would help to expand the scope of mass production of ventilators in Nigeria.
Oloyede Olukayode, an Electrical Engineer and member of the team, who explained how the equipment works, said the electro-mechanical device uses electronic components because of its complexity.
“We have different voltages working for different parts of the system. We have the electric motor and we have the display and we have the device through which we get air or oxygen into the patient,”Oloyede.
