Hauptinhalt

The Ambu Bag-Solution

Foto: Martin Koch

“Ambu-Bags” or “Aero-Bags” are used in First-Aid scenarios to support people with respiration problems. They consist of a face-mask that is pressed with one hand onto the patient's face and a “balloon” that is pressed and released with the other hand, cf. Fig. 1 above.

Our idea is to:
a) mount this mask on the face of the patient
b) introduce a small piece of tube between mask and balloon that is possibly also connected to a PEEP-valve
c) build a motorized system that is controlled by single-board computer to realize automatized press-and-release routines of the balloon

This idea is not completely new. Actually, there have been similar demonstrations and prototypes in the past, prepared by universities in the USA.

The novelty of our approach is to find simple solutions that are quick and easy to build with accessible resources. For that purpose, we want to use standard components from electronic stores, 3D-printers and materials from hardware stores.

We have reached a lot in the first hours of work:
This following two videos show two of our solutions that are capable of supplying an artificial lung with air by compressing and releasing the balloon. Within 48 hours we made it from a rough sketch on the whiteboard to these prototypes, that are now being further improved:

Our newest prototype is now operation even in mobile mode, i.e. without external power supply: https://youtu.be/r9uWMMbqyV0

Moreover, the face mask has been modified to realize our vision. Our solution uses three 3D-printed pieces and velcro that is available in hardware stores. By combining all parts together, we can steadily fix the mask on the patient’s face as shown in the following video: (https://youtu.be/nbvRsaHKcOc).

For a DIY manual read our instructions on how-to-build-an extended-Ambu-Bag-face-mask.