One of the key takeaways emerging from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic so far is the universal need for ventilators. But when the COVID-19 crisis hit, Davidson inventor Roger Faulkner recognized almost immediately that the ventilators in high demand would not be enough to treat the potential millions of patients on a global scale.
Faulkner, who suffers from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), has spent the past few years designing a portable ventilation system to improve his quality of life. His Conformal Vest Ventilator provides a better alternative to the standard positive pressure ventilators, which often interfere with normal human interactions, particularly appearance, speech and eating.
That experience and know-how led him to envision a more efficient alternative to the single-patient ventilators currently in use for COVID-19 treatment across the world. Faulkner’s open-source version, called the Shared Manifold Ventilator, could serve 20 patients simultaneously, and it can be produced using off-the-shelf materials available at stores like Home Depot and McMaster-Carr.
Shared Manifold Ventilator: How It Works
The basic concept of shared ventilators is nothing new. In late March, a New York hospital started putting two patients on a ventilator at a time. Several experts and organizations, including the American Association for Respiratory Care, have warned against this practice, as it requires two patients with different lung sizes and breathing resistance to share the same levels of oxygen. As such, with a two-person ventilator, it’s inevitable that the amount of oxygen would not reach each patient proportionally, increasing the risk of complications.
Faulkner’s solution eliminates this limitation by customizing the breathing cycles for each patient. As he outlined in a Medium post, the Shared Manifold Ventilator system involves using two valves to link patients to air and oxygen supply, while another valve regulates the exhaust of that air supply. Separate solenoid valve connections would be attached to the air supply and oxygen manifolds, adjusting the timing and release of oxygen levels depending on the patients’ breathing capacity.
“The amount of air that’s inhaled by 100 patients in a minute is less than the amount of air put out by the cheapest air compressor I could find at Home Depot,” Faulkner said. “There’s a huge mismatch between the kind of scale you need to provide air supply to patients compared to the typical air handling equipment in a factory. The way they’re doing it now, each individual patient has to have all that hardware at the bedside; the way I’m doing it, you only need that much hardware for 100 patients.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyn1pBEFGD4
Faulkner adds, “The shared ventilator is the logical result of thinking about the problem: What do you have to do to ventilate 100 patients for the minimum price? These approaches being pursued in the West are not going to save many lives in Africa. Nobody is thinking about the amount and scale of ventilation support that’s needed in the most cost-effective way.”
Faulkner says the machines would best be implemented in emergency medical wards and tents, rather than a traditional hospital setting. “Through minimizing the cost by avoiding the need for doing any kind of pressure regulation at the bedside, this device can be rolled out very quickly,” he said.
Faulkner recently started a GoFundMe campaign to raise cash to develop the initial prototype. He estimates that the parts needed will cost just under $3,400.
Learning from Experience
Faulkner’s Shared Manifold Ventilator idea builds off many of the concepts learned through designing his own respirator to help improve his quality of life after being diagnosed with ALS in 2015.
Faulkner currently uses three methods of breathing: a sipper, a nasal pillow and a mask, all of which come with some degree of intrusiveness into everyday activities. But building off the negative pressure ventilation paradigm started with machines such as the Iron Lung, he designed a wearable vest ventilator that more emulates natural breathing patterns.
His upgrade of the Iron Lung is in line with existing Cuirass ventilators that offer similar capabilities. But Faulkner’s Conformal Vest Ventilator (CVV) is a more compact, portable version of the Cuirass design that hides under the wearer’s clothes and allows for more movement.
Faulkner is working on developing the CVV with a team of students and professors from Queens University in Charlotte. MakerSpace Charlotte Co-Founder Benjamin Gatti is also involved in the project.
Spanning over 30 years, Faulkner’s career history has revolved around his innovative ideas, running a series of companies he founded to commercialize his inventions. In the early 2000s, Faulkner developed the Elpipe (short for Electric Pipeline), which combines the functionality of a powerline, a pipeline and a train to transport power across continents. That invention formed the basis for Faulkner’s Electric Pipeline Corporation, which eventually spun into a new entity focused on another ballistic breaker invention.
In 2014, Faulkner sold his Elpipe and ballistic breaker patents to Alevo, a now-defunct battery manufacturer in Concord. He took on the role of vice president of research and development at Alevo before it ultimately went bankrupt in 2017.
Now, Faulkner runs Rethink Technologies, a company focused on building out his intellectual property. Rethink has a team of advisors including neuroscientists, university academics and other medical experts.
On a daily basis, Faulkner runs a Twitch channel called LivingInAWheelchair, where he documents his life with ALS and shares his inventions and ideas.
Faulkner is currently seeking angel investors to fund the development and commercialization of his intellectual property. In addition to the CVV and Shared Manifold Ventilator, his inventions run the gamut from an open-source submarine supertanker for transporting fresh water from coastal Greenland, a method of converting natural gas to liquid fuels, and a special tube for launching rockets.
Way Forward Hinges on Funding & Partnerships
In the immediate future, with the COVID-19 pandemic underway, Faulkner is seeking angel funding to support the prototype phase for the Shared Manifold Ventilator.
But securing funding and developing a prototype is only a fraction of the battle to get the ventilator in the hands of the emergency facilities that need it. Obtaining Food and Drug Administration approval is tough at any time, let alone in the middle of a pandemic.
At the moment though, Faulkner says he’s not too concerned with regulatory approval.
“We’re seeing potentially a million people on ventilation equipment, and if we can’t muster anywhere near that many ventilators, then minds will open,” he said. “With my ALS, I can’t be the one to fight the fight. I’m just trying to get a group of people around me who are excited enough to help with [this project]. Maybe one of them will take on the FDA at some point.”
Faulkner has reached out to several companies and investors with his pitch to partner on the development of a prototype. While no one has taken him up on his idea yet, he isn’t ready to let it go.
“Early in life, I learned that if there’s one thing you need as an entrepreneur, it’s not to be discouraged by failure,” Faulkner said. “It doesn’t stop me when this world keeps pushing back. I’ll keep trying.”
