In light of the COVID-19 crisis and resultant shortage of medical equipment, hospitals have developed protocols for using BiPAP (BIlevel Positive Airway Pressure) machines as non-invasive ventilators, the FDA has approved the use of these modified BiPAP devices as ventilators, and several groups are currently working on ventilator designs that involve a converted BiPAP. However, CPAP (Constant Positive Airway Pressure) devices are cheaper, more widely available, and similar both electrically and mechanically. Unfortunately, they are lacking in some features that the physicians require and, according to their manufacturer, CPAP machines “would require significant rework in order to function as a ventilator”.
What we have done is to “jailbreak” the the Airsense 10 CPAP machine, a common, low-cost sleep therapy device intended to treat sleep apnea, so that it is possible to run additional tasks on the device. These new tasks add the features and adjust the range of parameters that make it possible, along with extra equipment like viral filters, to use the device as a temporary ventilator. This can help ease the shortage until more real ventilators are available.
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