Writing 丨 Qian Boyan
The new crown epidemic is still raging around the world. As of 22:00 GMT on April 15, the number of confirmed cases worldwide had surpassed 2.01 million, with the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. having exceeded 610,000, and several major European powers having surpassed the 100,000 mark.
In Europe and the United States, the serious shortage of respirators, compared to the expensive masks in Loyang, behind the serious shortage of respirators is struck through the medical resources under the live life.
Who will be the heroes of this era?
Silicon Valley's Iron Man, Musk, the business genius who can seemingly do anything, may be one of them.
The one-and-only Tesla brand respirator?
On April 6, Tesla, the company Musk founded, released a small video on YouTube that lasted less than four minutes and had a single theme: the Tesla brand respirator.
According to the engineers in the video, the prototype first presses medical-grade gases into a cylindrical oxygen mixing chamber, which, along with its accompanying barometric regulator, apparently comes from the Model?S's air suspension system. The gas then passes through a throttle valve, which generates a pressure wave, through a series of sensors and filtration systems, including flow and pressure sensors, and into the patient's lungs. In order to visualize key indicators such as pressure and flow, the engineers used the Model?3 infotainment system's center touch screen. Through the delivery frequency, pressure waveforms and other indicators, doctors can not only determine the inhalation and exhalation of the patient's lungs in real time, but also with the throttle valve to match the key parameters of the patient's personalized.
The most important feature of the Tesla ventilator is that Musk's engineers have created a prototype of the ventilator out of nothing, using only existing components.
Lars Moravy, Tesla's vice president of engineering, said in the video, "We're able to help healthcare organizations without encroaching on their resources for medical equipment, and we avoided encroaching on the supply chain of traditional ventilator manufacturers during the manufacturing process."
The Model?S's air suspension. Photo credit: Tesla
The center panel of the Model?3. Photo credit: Tesla
In addition to this prototype, Musk tweeted that Tesla plans to restart its Buffalo, N.Y., factory to produce ventilators in partnership with Irish ventilator maker Medtronic.
Snowbird or hype canny?
But that doesn't mean the Tesla ventilator is really going to save New York and America.
In fact, the design of an uncomplicated mechatronic prototype, along with the assembly of existing components, can be accomplished by PhDs at most top engineering schools. Similar prototypes are currently under development at MIT's E-Event and the University of South Carolina's VESper program, and engineers at Mercedes AMG, which has won six consecutive Formula 1 championships, have also developed a respirator prototype in the shortest possible time.
Based on the conclusions of interviews with respiratory physicians conducted by Auto?Motor?Sport, the Tesla brand ventilator is better suited for use as a portable respirator. If it is eventually produced, the ventilator could be useful as a breathing aid in ambulances and during patient transfers. But for now, it's the large, fixed, invasive ventilators in intensive care units that are key to determining the mortality rate of patients with new crowns in every country.
In general, medical ventilators are divided into two categories: Non-Invasive Ventilaton (NIV) and Invasive Mechanical Ventilation (IMV). Non-invasive ventilators supply oxygen through a closed mask worn over the patient's face, while invasive ventilators have oxygen tubes that need to go deep into the patient's windpipe (through a tracheotomy). In addition, there is what is considered the ultimate weapon, and the most sophisticated, ECMO (extracorporeal membrane pulmonary oxygenation), commonly known as the "Yeke membrane" or "artificial lung" device.
In contrast to the Tesla ventilator, which focuses on key indicators such as gas pressure and delivery frequency, a professional invasive ventilator also requires adjusting the oxygen concentration according to the patient's individual condition (up to 90% oxygen content, rather than 21% atmospheric oxygen), humidifying and controlling the humidity, and heating to the right temperature to ensure that the patient's lungs receive the maximum level of support. If the patient's condition improves, the ventilator also gradually reduces the oxygen level to allow the patient to readjust to breathing on his own.
The complex set of parameters and combinations make it difficult for even nurses and doctors to operate these ventilators on their own. Typically, these ventilators require specialists from the manufacturer or specially trained physicians to operate them. The accompanying medical knowledge is something that automakers cannot provide on their own.
And it remains unknown whether Tesla has had any guidance from medical organizations or medical device vendors about ventilators.
Previously, German ventilator maker Dr?ger, which also currently has the largest market share in China, has publicly questioned the carmaker's ability to produce ventilators. In Dr?ger's view, the core of the ventilator is not the pneumatic components, but the electronic and software systems that manipulate the pneumatic parts.
Based on experience in software development, it is simply not possible to independently develop and debug a new software system in just a few months.
Another problem with the Tesla ventilator is that regulators have stricter standards for medical devices than current automotive industry quality standards such as ISO?26262. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's FDA has said it will relax regulatory standards for ventilators to allow for a rapid ramp-up in production, the review process, which typically takes two to three years, has struggled to keep up with the number of cases diagnosed in the United States.
For its part, Tesla really hasn't provided a production timetable for its ventilators either.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has similarly said that Tesla's ventilators would not be ready for the peak of the New York State outbreak.
Another area of controversy for Musk and his Tesla was Musk's "backdoor" behavior after his high-profile tweet that he was putting the manufacture of his own ventilator on hold.
Musk had previously purchased thousands of masks and 1,255 ventilators from China to donate to New York's Lincoln Hospital. But according to the New York Times, some of the equipment donated by Tesla was actually just a bi-level positive airway pressure (Bi-PAP) machine used to treat sleep apnea.
While Musk insists that the Bi-PAP can provide respiratory support for patients suffering from respiratory problems, the class of noninvasive ventilators is rarely effective for new crowns of critical illness. This comes on the heels of a case in which the use of C-PAP (continuous positive airway pressure, a reduced form of Bi-PAP) instead led to the spread of neocoronavirus at a nursing facility in Washington.
Additionally, Tesla's plan to convert respirators at its Buffalo, N.Y., factory is not so innocent. As a joint battery factory with Panasonic, the plant had received $750 million in state subsidies when it was built, and the betting agreement was contingent on Tesla creating more than a thousand local jobs. After Panasonic announced last month that it was pulling out of its partnership with Tesla, the switch to respiratory production ensured that the number of employees hired was the optimal solution for Tesla to avoid paying a $41 million fine.
As for Tesla's cooperation with Medtronic, Medtronic officials have only confirmed that Musk's other company, SpaceX, is supplying it with valves and other parts, and that the ventilator partnership is still open.
Traditional car makers: steady old guys
Tesla may be the brightest star in the wave of automakers switching to respirators, but the fact is that Tesla is not the only one with a good track record in respirator production, and many of them have even gone further.
As Tesla's rivals in the U.S. domestic market, Ford and General Motors are representatives of the steady and steady. Unlike Tesla's DIY program, Ford and GM have chosen to play it safe and work with regular respirator manufacturers.
Ford, which is making the most progress, has drawn on the expertise of GE's healthcare division to get a license from Florida-based ventilator maker Airon Corp. and FDA approval for a portable pNeuton?Model?A ventilator.
The model ventilator makes extensive use of molded electrical components and is equipped only with a switch and dial control mechanism, without real-time monitoring features such as an electronic screen. Compared with invasive ventilators that start at $50,000, the number of components in this model has dropped from more than 1,000 to about 300.
Under Ford's plan, the company will partner with the National United Auto Workers UAW starting April 20, committing 500 employees to kick off official production at the Michigan plant. Production is expected to reach 1,500 units by the end of April and 50,000 by early July, with capacity stabilizing at 30,000 units a month after Independence Day. Arion, the original manufacturer of the ventilator, previously had a production capacity of less than 100 units per month.
Production plans for the Model?A respirator. Credit: Ford
GE's Model?A ventilator with Ford. Photo credit: Ford
As for GM, which Trump has previously accused on Twitter of trying to make a national fortune, it has also partnered with Washington-based ventilator maker Ventec?Life?Systems, with plans to produce the V+Pro, a stripped-down version of Ventec's VOCSN critical care ventilator, at its Kokomo, Indiana, plant.For now. GM has received an order for 30,000 respirators designated by the Trump administration's use of the Defense Production Act. GM expects to deliver hundreds of respirators by the end of April, with production capacity stabilizing at more than 10,000 units per month after June.
GM's VOCSN respirator production line. Photo credit: Business?Inside
More steady than the Americans are the Germans.
Perhaps because the German engineers' association, the VDI, and the German mechanical industry association, the VDMA, have both taken a dim view of the transition of carmakers into production, or because the death toll in Germany is far lower than in other Western countries, German carmakers, led by Volkswagen, have focused on the business of supplying respirator manufacturers with respirator masks, air filters, and other spare parts.
More than 50 3D-printing facilities at the Volkswagen Group's Volkswagen Motorsport (VW?Motorsport) and Wolfsburg headquarters in Hanover, as well as Audi's headquarters in Ingolstadt, are in full production of respirator masks, inner supports for protective suits and other accessories. The Group's Lamborghini plant in Bologna has joined the 3D printing mask team in addition to sewing masks; the Skoda plant in Prague, Czech Republic, has already successfully collaborated with the Technical University of Bratas to research a 3D printing solution for the European standard FFP3 mask (i.e., N99); and in Barcelona's Martorell Siat plant, Volkswagen has already successfully started assembling the simple respirator on the Leon production line a week ago. The assembly of the simple respirator began a week ago on the Leon production line, although the respirator still needs final approval from the Spanish health authorities.
Combined with the experience of Ford, GM, and VW, perhaps a partnership between a car company and a specialized ventilator maker is the right way for the auto industry to make a social contribution to healthcare organizations in the current epidemic.
As San Diego, California-based respirator maker ResMed CEO?Mick?Farrell said, the ventilators could be better utilized with the help of Tesla's lithium batteries. But ResMed didn't say whether it has plans to partner with Tesla.
This article comes from the authors of the Motorhome Car Family, and does not represent the views of Motorhome's position.