Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lungs. Treatment for pneumonia includes antibiotics, rest, fluids, management of complications and professional home care. Oxygen supplementation is one way to help patients who cannot breathe adequately on their own.

In this space we propose short-term solutions to temporarily replace medical respirators by giving DIY instructions on how to construct oxygen concentrators with minimal technical requirements. Our solutions differ in technical complexity and performance and should be seen as open-source continuous improvement resource. These solutions may be combined with other DIY projects on ventilation systems, according to medical need.

---

Schematic of a generic oxygen concentrator (source)

The Coronavirus emergency

Oxygen generators are required in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, where oxygen therapy is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) with flowrates of 10 – 60 l / min. (starting at 10 l / min and increasing flow rate with worsening of disease).

The handbook of COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment (The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine) recommends “oxygen therapy as soon as possible”, either in the form of High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen therapy, or tracheal intubations (for stable patients with low oxygenation index). Consequently, any oxygen generator added to a COVID-19 treatment setting allows an earlier oxygen therapy for patients, and prevents the selective application of oxygen therapy for patients with good prognosis. To facilitate this we will generate plans to construct oxygen generators in relatively simple environments using common materials.

About us

This site has been generated under the lead of Prof. W. Stark and his team at ETH Zürich. Further details here.

Disclaimer

The information on this site is for educative and engineerng know-how transfer purposes only. Take appropriate safety precautions prior to attempting to replicate the systems. We do not guarantee any specifications for the devices and do not give any recommended use. Local rules and regulations will apply