Research

 

Dr. Le Hoang Sinh, the representative of the DTU research group, explains how to operate the DTU-Vent.

 

Attendees included Mr. Huynh Duc Tho, the Danang People’s Committee Chairman, and leaders of the Danang departments of Health and of Science and Technology.

 

The DTU-Vent offers noninvasive ventilation, feeding oxygen to the lungs at a fixed frequency through a nasal or full face mask, with sufficient quantities of air to stimulate the breathing of patients suffering respiratory distress. The remarkable features of this DTU-Vent are:

 

- The technological autonomy with a high degree of localization.

- Its price is four to five times less than that of others on the market, just 20 million VND

 

According to the DTU representatives, the DTU research team referenced other ventilators on the market such as the E-Vent (MIT), the OxVent (Oxford University), the Medtronics PB650, and the Lowenstein Ventilator. However, the problem is that neither of these is suitable for the economic and manufacturing conditions in Vietnam.

 

For example, if using a “super economical” model with Ambu silicon like the E-Vent, it is very difficult for the compressive speed to achieve a high level and it is really difficult to control special parameters due to the free transfiguration of Ambus silicon when being compressed.

 

If using the Medtronics model, it requires many expensive microcontrollers and sensors such as ST10F276Z5T3 by ST Microelectronics and AWN3300V by Honeywell.

 

Mr. Huynh Duc Tho, the Danang People’s Committee Chairman, visits a DTU lab

 

According to the DTU representative, the DTU research team decided to design the DTU-Vent with technological harmony with high degree of localization, but it still has many strengths, such as:  

 

- a piston pump with highly stable and accurate air flow 

- a design based on AMMI-Covid-19 requirements

- enough sensors

 

The DTU research team also prioritized to design a compact ventilator with a battery to guarantee three hours of continuous operation in case of power failure, which can be more easily used in any situation.

According to the DTU representative, Ver1.0 of the DTU-Vent non-invasive ventilator has many outstanding features:

 

- Pumping volumes can be adjusted with high accuracy 

- With a piston design, it uses less energy than other ventilators  

- Pump noise frequency was reduced and the price was reduced.

- Currently, DTU-Vent allows ten different settings according to patient height, to expedite time and ease of operation. The DTU-Vent non-invasive ventilator has several outstanding features, such as press and volume controls, to meet the needs of each patient. 

 

Dr. Le Hoang Sinh, leader of the DTU research team, promised to complete the ventilator to have more features such as Positive End-Expiratory Pressure (PEEP), remote control, adjustable airflow temperature, and integrated touch screen with real-time graph display (instead of having to connect the ventilator to a computer).

 

Leaders of Danang promised to partner with DTU to develop the DTU-Vent

 

Mr. Huynh Duc Tho, the Danang People’s Committee Chairman, promised to assist the DTU research team to perfect the prototype and to soon produce ventilators.

 

Ms. Ngo Thi Kim Yen, Director of the Danang Department of Health, and Mr. Tran Van Hoang, Deputy Director of the Danang Department of Science and Technology, said that they will help the research team to connect to doctors and health experts living in Danang during the process of testing and set up an appraisal council after the product is finished.  

 

The leaders of Danang hoped that the DTU research team would overcome the difficulties to start producing ventilators soon. 

 

(Media Center)