Moved by peoples' suffering during pandemic, two IIT-Hyderabad innovators develop portable ventilator

The cost-effective ventilator is going to be set up in PHCs in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry. Cyril and Rajesh plan to scale up production capacity based on the number of orders.

Hyderabad: Moved by the difficulties faced by people in search of ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at IIT Hyderabad have devised a portable ventilation system at an affordable price.

Jeevan Lite, the smart IoT-based ventilator developed by the two innovators Cyril Antony and Rajesh Yadav at the Aerobiosys Innovations center at the IIT-H, was recently inaugurated for public use by Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, Governor of Telangana and Puducherry. The cost-effective ventilator is going to be set up in PHCs in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry. Cyril and Rajesh plan to scale up production capacity based on the number of orders.

The two innovators were inspired by the project after they saw people running helter-skelter during the pandemic in search of oxygen beds and ventilators. In fact, many died owing to oxygen shortage. This got Cyril and Rajesh thinking.

The duo designed a ventilator using the resources at hand. Cyril and Rajesh were Biodesign Innovation fellows of the Center for Healthcare Entrepreneurship. They co-founded Aerobiosys Innovations incubated at the IIT-H, which aims to develop affordable medical equipment.

They witnessed the dire shortage of ventilators during the pandemic, which led them to develop Jeevan Lite. They have been working on this project for a year and a half now. Jeevan Lite is a smart ventilation system that is portable and powered by lithium-ion batteries.

It operates uninterrupted in SIMV, CMV, Adaptive and Hybrid modes of ventilation for five hours. With a 5V battery backup, the device has 10,000 breath event locks set up. The device provides ventilation for adequate duration.

Cyril and Rajesh say the ventilator is designed to suit Indian medical conditions. The majority of ventilators in the market are merely therapeutic devices. But Jeevan Lite provides a holistic ecosystem, they said.

At present, Aerobiosys is producing 40 to 50 Jeevan Lite units a month. Cyril Antony says that it is his responsibility as an IITian to find a solution to society’s problems. He added that Aerobiosys has been working on designing neonatal ventilators too.

He wishes to enter the international market and supply economical medical devices to developing countries. Rajesh added that they intend to launch Jeevan Lite in the world market.