Montmeló (Barcelona), April 15, 2020. – Hospital de Sant Pau, the engineering company QEV Technologies, the automobile company Nissan and the technology centre Eurecat have developed the Q-Vent respirator to be used in hospital ICUs to alleviate the lack of equipment generated by the Covid-19 throughout the world. Its design is intended to contribute to supplying emerging countries given its performance at the level of accessibility, flexibility and reliability.
The Q-Vent has already been authorised by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) to be used in clinic investigation and has been tested in the facilities of the Research Institute of the Hospital de Sant Pau – IIB Sant Pau (Barcelona) with excellent results. The first 20 units will be donated to CatSalut in order to continue contributing by supplying resources to the ICUs and for the ongoing clinical study which will help to optimize the equipment.
Q-Vent is a 22kg portable device developed by QEV Technologies and the Research Institute of Hospital de Sant Pau – IIB Sant Pau. It automates a resuscitator which manually assists the patient’s breathing. The aim is to supply the lack of automatic conventional respirators in front of the emergency situation worldwide generated by the new Coronavirus.
The goal of Hospital de Sant Pau, QEV Technologies, Nissan and Eurecat is to make a respirator available to any market, that is accessible and easy to use but also robust and reliable at the same time.
“Since the beginning of the epidemic, we assumed the challenge of developing a low-cost portable system that could reach all corners of the world, especially those emerging countries where the Covid-19 was going to cause a great damage and where the majority of the patients were not going to have access to respirators. And thanks to everyone’s effort and desire, this has been possible”, explains Miguel Valldecabres, CEO at QEV Technologies.
“From Sant Pau we Support this initiative to fight against Covid-19. We believe it is necessary to help emerging countries that have lower economic capacities than we have in Europe and that’s why we support the QEV Technologies project to make this respirator useful in ICUs anywhere in the world”, confirms Dr. José M. Guerra, scientific coordinator of the project, doctor of the Arrhythmia Unit of the Hospital de Sant Pau and Coordinator of the Research Group in Clinical and Translational Cardiology, of the Research Institute of this centre.
Nissan develops the production
Manufacturing of the Q-Vent will begin this week at Nissan’s engine and gearbox plant in Zona Franca. Nissan’s engineers have developed the production process for serial manufacturing, with a capacity of 180 units per day.
Eurecat has been in charge of advising on the design of components and the production of some of them, as well as managing the process for the inclusion of hospitals in the clinical study, as is the case of the Althaia Foundation (Hospital Red Asistencial Universitaria from Manresa).
Control of the frequency, pressure and volume of oxygen supplied
Q-Vent allows to control the values of frequency, pressure and volume of oxygen supplied to the patient and includes a security system with audible alarms and an internal auxiliary battery that gives a range of at least 36 minutes in the event of a power failure. The device is monitored and controlled by a PC with a Windows operating system and through the software Open source -Covid Patient Tracker-. The software has remote connectivity and does not require configuration, allowing its immediate use.
Security system with alarms
The software has been designed to guarantee its stable operation over time and it incorporates an acoustic alarm system. These alarms are activated both on accidental disconnection and on any alteration in the programmed or measured parameters.
Connectivity
The Q-Vent includes the Open Source software -Covid Patient Tracker- that allows you to monitor and control an unlimited number of respirators from the same PC in real time, thus reducing the time required for medical supervision.
Acknowledgement
Hospital de Sant Pau, engineering QEV Technologies, the automobile company Nissan and Eurecat appreciate all the support received by their suppliers and collaborators and they want to make special mention of the support provided by AEMPS, CatSalut, ACCIÓ, LGAI and Leitat.
Please click HERE to download the Q-Vent catalogue.
