/g/VentilatorDevelopers

Re: Did anything ever come of this effort?

erichbschulz@... (Erich Schulz) — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 17:02:38 -0700

Hi Gordon et al,

Just an FYI, Robert Read, Ben Coombs and I are attempting to write up "the great ventilator rush of 2020".

https://docs.google.com/document/d/148TwzjpS6NzVVK40tkF2I7NzGVZvMxdi6iuDfITMg0M/edit?usp=sharing

We're aiming to publish this in Australasian Anaesthesia (aka The Blue Book). Unfortunately this publication doesn't make it into pubmed, but past editions are visible here.

We've exceeded our 5k word limit which is a shame because there is much to write about! If you have inclination to read the current late draft then comments are very welcome. We've got until the end of the month get "version 1" to the editors.

Any reflections or links to a definitive reference to the work done in this space would be appreciated. (I always thought that this project was one of the more ingenious in it's approach and would like to give it a mention as I think the use of sprinkler valves is really interesting and issue with PVC are worth putting on the record)

hope you're all well!

Erich Schulz, mbbs, mba, fanzca

Brisbane, Australia. UTC+10 @ErichSchulz

Re: Did anything ever come of this effort?

erichbschulz@... (Erich Schulz) — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 06:18:48 -0700

There's actually quite a diverse collection of groups that spawned around the same time.

Many are still very active, coming together and getting increasingly organised. Many have now established a base around Helpfull Engineering.

I've kicked off a little project looking purely at the software. https://www.helpfulengineering.org/projects-news/project-spotlight-ventos/

Going through Gordon's code is on our to-do list.

The regulatory assurance stuff is heavy going!

Re: Did anything ever come of this effort?

jjpurdum@... (jjpurdum) — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 06:10:25 -0700

OK...done!

Jack, W8TEE

On Saturday, August 15, 2020, 9:00:35 AM EDT, Gordon Gibby <docvacuumtubes@...> wrote:

YES that would be useful. I've got a talk to give Tuesday night and famly coming for which I have to havve a boat going for Friday.....and the list goes on and on. But I gave two online lectures to ham clubs on it,a nd developed a pretty nice presentation that people appeared to enjoy. So I could probably use that to whip up something written.

The most amazing part to me was the HAM COMMUNITY.

Gordon

Re: Did anything ever come of this effort?

docvacuumtubes@... (Gordon Gibby KX4Z) — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 06:00:34 -0700

The most amazing part to me was the HAM COMMUNITY.

Gordon

Re: Did anything ever come of this effort?

jjpurdum@... (jjpurdum) — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 05:52:34 -0700

I'll remind you again in about a month...would that be useful? I just fine Rich to be a nice guy and I try to help him when I can.

Enjoy the weekend!!

Jack, W8TEE

On Saturday, August 15, 2020, 8:47:24 AM EDT, Gordon Gibby <docvacuumtubes@...> wrote:

Aargh....darn. I didn't do an article. I was asked (at least for now) to help with an ARRL item and gee I haven't thought about it. Thanks for reminding me. Sign me 'rueful'

Gordon

Re: Did anything ever come of this effort?

docvacuumtubes@... (Gordon Gibby KX4Z) — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 05:47:24 -0700

Aargh....darn. I didn't do an article. I was asked (at least for now) to help with an ARRL item and gee I haven't thought about it. Thanks for reminding me. Sign me 'rueful'

Gordon

Re: Did anything ever come of this effort?

jjpurdum@... (jjpurdum) — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 05:45:32 -0700

Thanks, Gordon.

Jack, W8TEE

P.S. Did you do the article for Rich at CQ??

On Saturday, August 15, 2020, 8:30:11 AM EDT, Gordon Gibby <docvacuumtubes@...> wrote:

Hi Bob -- I check back with the UF group from time to time and the matter is still in review at the FDA.

Crucial LEARNING POINTS:

1. Earlier and more frequent communications with the FDA would have been a good idea. I think we designed a system with WAY more capabilities than they were thinking about, and therefore the uF team apparently had to strip it down to where we had gotten a month or two earlier. More and earlier guidance from communications with the FDA might have saved unnecessary design --- but we ended up with something that could be used for far more critical ventilation

2. More understanding earlier of the international standards would have made applying to the FDA easier. A lot of time was spent by me and others merely reading through their documents. LUCKILY, I had guessed that they would want the SAFEST possible electrical construction and much of what we did passed muster without too much problem.

3. PHYSICAL CONTAINMENT was more of an issue than expected. Put the whole thing in a box? Or Not? Again, a better and clearer direction from FDA earlier might have saved a lot of huge efforts applied later at great effort by many.

4. THE INTERFACE WITH INDUSTRY was tough. Thankfully we had FANTASTIC PARTNERS in the altruistic volunteer clubs that filled that need --- those guys were GREAT and I can't sing their praises loudly enough

The amateur radio community really provided incredible support here. A huge amount of very practical knowledge wrapped up all at the same time in many persons.....adding all the academics to it with their very specialized mechanical and other engineering knowledge and we had a great design group.

My thanks to all who have served on this effort. When/If I hear the final outcome I'll let everyone know.

Gordon

Re: Did anything ever come of this effort?

docvacuumtubes@... (Gordon Gibby KX4Z) — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 05:30:08 -0700

Hi Bob -- I check back with the UF group from time to time and the matter is still in review at the FDA.

Crucial LEARNING POINTS:

My thanks to all who have served on this effort. When/If I hear the final outcome I'll let everyone know.

Gordon

Did anything ever come of this effort?

rkayakr@... (Bob Benedict, KD8CGH) — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 05:17:55 -0700

Topic says it all.

Re: Arduino Alternatives

wb6b@... (Tom, wb6b) — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 04:32:45 -0700

On Fri, Jul 10, 2020 at 04:12 AM, Erich Schulz wrote:

looking at concentrators

Yes, I've been looking at O2 concentrators. An interesting challenge to design a ventilator that can work from a gas supply of only a couple pounds of pressure.

Re: Arduino Alternatives

erichbschulz@... (Erich Schulz) — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 04:12:56 -0700

Agree Tom. Oxygen supply will be critical. There are channels on Helpful that are looking at concentrators etc too.

Re: Arduino Alternatives

wb6b@... (Tom, wb6b) — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 02:35:27 -0700

On Wed, Jul 8, 2020 at 06:32 PM, Erich Schulz wrote:

Hey folk, for those still with energy I think you'll all find lots of kindred spirits in the very active Slack run by volunteers at https://www.helpfulengineering.org/

I'll check that out.

I learned a terrific amount about ventilators from this group, Gordon's work along with the rest. And reading the many resources pointed out, including yours.

Just to check what I may have learned. The biggest thing I learned was to be effective, a ventilator has to be able to supply high percentages of oxygen, not just air. Although, it seems there are cases where CPAP and BIPAP machines have found to be valuable in Corona Virus treatment. So, the oxygen need may not be absolute.

Tom,
wb6b

Re: Arduino Alternatives

erichbschulz@... (Erich Schulz) — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 18:32:00 -0700

Hey folk, for those still with energy I think you'll all find lots of kindred spirits in the very active Slack run by volunteers at https://www.helpfulengineering.org/

There are a variety of channels covering many ventilator related projects, both hardware and software.

I'd love it if you dropped on on #project-ventos and they would welcome your input on multiple channels. (Seriously we'd love your assistance and advice)

Dr Gibby (and other doctors) would also be welcome to join the closed medical board channel.

Re: Arduino Alternatives

wb6b@... (Tom, wb6b) — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 14:11:36 -0700

On Wed, Jul 8, 2020 at 04:32 AM, jjpurdum wrote:

I have yet to find any examples that run on the Arduino's that won't run on the STM32.

Where I started to run into problems was with the various GUI libraries, the Adafruit GFX libraries and individual TFT drivers. (One was the Adafruit GFX library upgrading to allow non-square pixels, without backwards compatibility in the function calls.) Also, seems like I remember some incompatible library or naming convention issues when I tried to compile your Morse Code Tutor sketch using the "official" STM32 tool-chain. Switching to the Roger Clark version worked.

I believe some people were installing the Arduino STM32 toolchain from a repository that had packaged Roger's toolchain with a frozen in time set of Arduino libraries. It was all several years old, but everything was frozen to a time where it all was compatible. Over time the various library authors introduced new features/enhancements that were not corrected for in the STM32 specific code in other Arduino libraries.

Maybe, some of these messier libraries are back in sync now. However, most of the time I can grab a Nano or a BluePill, whatever I have a spare board of within arms reach, compile the sketch and it just works. Which is great.

Tom, wb6b

Re: Arduino Alternatives

jjpurdum@... (jjpurdum) — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 04:32:01 -0700

All:

I'm working on a new beginning C book to replace Beginning C for Arduino. The new book is Beginning C for Microcontrollers and features the Arduino family, but also the STM32F103, the ESP32, and the Teensy 4.0. I have yet to find any examples that run on the Arduino's that won't run on the STM32. It's a great little chip with a lot more resources going for it with only a marginal bump in cost.

Jack, W8TEE

On Wednesday, July 8, 2020, 6:36:20 AM EDT, Tom, wb6b <wb6b@...> wrote:

On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 12:55 PM, Ashhar Farhan wrote:

I have sorted out the toolchain for the bluepill. here it is:
https://www.vu2ese.com/index.php/2020/06/30/bluepill-setup-on-arduino-with-ubuntu-linux/

Hi Ashhar,

Read your bluepill info, very helpful information collected into one place.

A while back Roger Clark transferred his Arduino STM32 BBS to STM, that might have signaled the end of updates to his version of the hardware support libraries. I checked and it looks like the Roger Clark Arduino STM32 hardware support libraries are still being maintained. That is good.

Even though the https://github.com/stm32duino/Arduino_Core_STM32 might be considered by STM to be the "official" Arduino STM32 library (tool chain), many (maybe most) people seem to use the Roger Clark version.

The fact that there are multiple Arduino STM32 hardware support libraries is good to keep in mind, in case one is having problems compiling code, as it is possible you could be using a different version of the board's support library (tool chain) and should verify you are using the same one as the sketch author used.

Tom, wb6b

Re: Arduino Alternatives

wb6b@... (Tom, wb6b) — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 03:36:18 -0700

On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 12:55 PM, Ashhar Farhan wrote:

I have sorted out the toolchain for the bluepill. here it is:
https://www.vu2ese.com/index.php/2020/06/30/bluepill-setup-on-arduino-with-ubuntu-linux/

Re: Arduino Alternatives

farhanbox@... (Ashhar Farhan) — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 12:55:09 -0700

I have sorted out the toolchain for the bluepill. here it is:

https://www.vu2ese.com/index.php/2020/06/30/bluepill-setup-on-arduino-with-ubuntu-linux/

Re: System cost vs LCD

wb6b@... (Tom, wb6b) — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 23:12:46 -0700

On Wed, Jun 24, 2020 at 11:05 AM, <Vent@...> wrote:

replacing it for lower-cost users with seven-segment and/or discrete LEDs?

I was surprised recently when I was designing a little remote monitor and thought it would be nice for it to have a local display on the device. Originally I thought a 7 segment display like what might have been in older calculators would give a nice retro look and be a simple solution. To my amazement 7 segment displays cost more than modern displays. Plus you had to deal with the software multiplexing and the I/o pins needed to do that.

I finally settled on a small OLED graphics display for just over three of dollars (there are some for as low as $1.50). Even with larger displays, the TFT LCD and OLED displays are mass produced while the 7 segment LED displays seem to be a specially item. The former seem to still be the better bargain. It may have been that I just did not find a low cost supplier for the 7 segment displays, but I did do a reasonable search.

Tom, wb6b

Re: System cost vs LCD

arvid.evans@... (Arv Evans) — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 12:28:19 -0700

Sorry...Steve and others....

I was discussing lack of LCD displays over on the QRP-Labs group and

absent mindedly posted a comment on LCD availability to the Ventilator

Discussion group. Answer is still valid, but was posted to the wrong group.

Arv

_._

Re: System cost vs LCD

arvid.evans@... (Arv Evans) — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 12:25:13 -0700

There are lots of 1602 style LCD displays available via Ebay.

If I understand correctly, the problem is that QRP-Labs supplier

did not or could not supply the correct ones in adequate numbers

for Hans` large quantity order. This does not stop individuals

from obtaining a few (small quantities) for personal use from

any of various suppliers.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1602-162-16x2-Character-LCD-Display-Module-HD44780-Controller-Yellow-Blacklight/233430267095?epid=0&hash=item36598734d7:g:RkIAAOSwXFNc75VI

Arv

_._