Development of a Patient Responsive Active Assist coNtrol (PRAAN) Ventilator at IIT Bhubaneswar

Faculty members and students of IIT Bhubaneswar have developed a Patient Responsive Active Assist coNtrol (PRAAN) ventilator for COVID19 emergencies. It can be operated in the standard volume control mode by setting breaths-per-minute, inhale and exhale time ratios, and tidal volume. The LCD displays various control clinical parameters and features fault alarms. Some of the critical structural members have been 3D printed.

Faculty members, Dr Kodanda Ram Mangipudi, from School of Minerals, Metallurgical and Materials Engg , Dr Srinivas Boppu, and Dr. Srinivas Karanki from the School of Electrical Sciences, carried the development along with their students Mr. Chinmay Panda, Mr. Arvind T.K.R., Mr. Karteek Sirisetti, Mr. Eswar Sai Prasad, Mr. Sudhansu Sekhar Nath, and Mr Rahul Kumar.

The highlight of this PRAAN ventilator is its active assist control mode. In this mode of operation the ventilator senses that the patient is trying to inhale and will adapts to the patient’s breathing frequency, reducing the load on the lungs. This feature has been realized in the ventilator without significant increase in cost.