30th March 2020

Dyson ventilators: MHRA and NHS clinicians involved throughout process

The new CoVent ventilator designed by Dyson and TTP had outside experts from Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the NHS involved throughout the design process.

The UK government has placed an order for 10,000 ventilators from the company following its appeal to industry to manufacture more essential equipment in anticipation of a surge in patients with the Coronavirus.

The ventilator is efficient in conserving oxygen, bed-mounted, portable and doesn’t need a fixed air supply, and was built to address the explicit clinical needs for COVID-19 patients. The user interface has been clinical led human factor designed in order to provide safety and familiarity to healthcare providers.

It is also battery operated so it can be used in different care settings and when patients are being transported. It is powered by Dyson Digital Motor which has been specially re- engineered by Dyson to meet the requirements of the ventilator. It conserves oxygen using a rebreathe circuit and uses Dyson’s air purifier expertise.

James Dyson, founder of Dyson, said in a note: “Hospitals are the frontline in the war against COVID-19, where heroic doctors, nurses, and care workers are battling to save lives and help people recover from this terrible virus. As with any battle, there are many challenges to overcome, not least the availability of essential equipment which in this case means ventilators. A ventilator supports a patient who is no longer able to maintain their own airways but sadly there is currently a significant shortage, both in the UK and other countries around the world.

“Since I received a call from Boris Johnson ten days ago, we have refocused resources at Dyson, and worked with TTP, The Technology Partnership, to design and build an entirely new ventilator, The CoVent. This new device can be manufactured quickly, efficiently and at volume. It is designed to address the specific clinical needs of COVID-19 patients, and it is suited to a variety of clinical settings. The core challenge was how to design and deliver a new, sophisticated medical product in volume and in an extremely short space of time. The race is now on to get it into production.

“The Dyson Digital motor sits at the heart of the new device and the motor’s design is optimised to have a very high level of intrinsic safety, making it particularly well-suited for industrial, high volume production. The device is designed to achieve a high-quality air supply to ensure its safety and effectiveness, drawing on our air purifier expertise which delivers high-quality filtration in high-volume products.

“Ventilators are a regulated product so Dyson and TTP will be working with the MHRA and the government to ensure that the product and the manufacturing process is approved. We have received an initial order of 10,000 units from the UK Government which we will supply on an open-book basis. We are also looking at ways of making it available internationally.

“I am proud of what Dyson engineers and our partners at TTP have achieved. I am eager to see this new device in production and in hospitals as soon as possible. This is clearly a time of grave international crisis, I will therefore donate 5,000 units to the international effort, 1,000 of which will go to the United Kingdom.”