Professor Emeritus (Physics) and Nobel Laureate Art McDonald is leading a team of scientists at national laboratories TRIUMF, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, and SNOLAB to develop a medical ventilator using off-the-shelf parts.
The ventilator project began in Milan, at the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration, which supports researchers looking for dark matter. Their experience working with gas handling systems and complex control systems adapted well to the task of redesigning ventilators. There are now researchers at more than 50 labs in Italy, Canada, and the U.S., all working on the project.
Scaling up the production of existing ventilators to address the growing need for patients with COVID-19 has been problematic. Traditional ventilators have more than 1,000 active parts. The new simplified design, about the size of a toaster, has 20 to 30 off-the-shelf parts, making it easy to produce in bulk.
Canadian manufacturers are now in place to start production of the ventilator and the project has received philanthropic support from Donald Sobey, Com'57, and other donors.
Learn more about the international project, Mechanical Ventilator Milano.
