Mechanical fan born in Italy from international FDA-certified design

There is Federiciana Giuliana Fiorillo, full professor at the 'Ettore Pancini' Department of Physics, among the proponents of the MVM project,the Milano Ventilatore Meccanico, an innovative device for assisted respiration, born in Italy from a project idea by Cristiano Galbiati, of GSSI, INFN and Princeton University and developed in little more than a month by a large international scientific collaboration, has obtained EUA, Emergency Use Authorization, certification from the U.S. FDA Food and Drug Administration .

MVM was specifically designed to be easily and quickly produced anywhere: it features an open-access design and a simple mechanical design based on widely available components on the market, so that it can be produced on a large scale, inexpensively and in different countries.

In Italy, the project has had the support of INFN National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Universities of Milano-Bicocca, Milano Statale, Naples Federico II, Pisa, Bergamo, GSSI Gran Sasso Science Institute, and the STIIMA and ISTP institutes of the CNR National Research Council.

The rapid spread of CoViD-19 has dramatically raised the prospect for many of the countries affected by the pandemic of a possible shortage of ventilators relative to the number of patients. Indeed, about 6 percent of people who contract CoViD-19 develop very serious lung complications, requiring a ventilator to pump oxygen into the lungs and expel carbon dioxide when air is released. "When, from the earliest stages of the spread of the pandemic in our country, it became clear that many patients would need respiratory assistance," explains creator Cristiano Galbiati , "we immediately decided to make our expertise and ability to work collaboratively to produce a new ventilator that could help cope with the crisis.

"MVM represents a paradigmatic case: on the one hand it shows the fundamental role and the great impact that basic research, with its capacity for knowledge and technological innovation, has on society, and on the other hand it highlights the importance of international and multidisciplinary collaboration to face the great challenges of our times. The FDA's EUA certification is an important milestone and for all of us a great satisfaction: our Milano Mechanical Ventilator becomes from a project a reality, which we hope will help save many lives," Galbiati concludes.

"We have followed Cristian Galbiati in this initiative for humanitarian purposes, providing all our expertise and that of our collaborators in the field of complex gas-based systems, electronics, and actuation and control software' - explains Giuliana Fiorillo.

The University of Naples Federico II is among the proponents of the MVM project with Professor Fiorillo, a member of the international coordination group that maintains contact with all those who want to offer contributions, and with researchers/companies from third countries who want to replicate the project. Under her direction, a team of university and INFN researchers is working on one of the first prototypes of the fan to conduct the validation tests necessary for certification.

"This was a similar undertaking to those we are used to undertaking for the fundamental physics experiments we participate in. We are somewhat trained to deal with complex problems in a simplified way and not to give up until we have a detailed plan to solve them," Fiorillo adds.

In elementary particle physics we routinely work in large international collaborations, together physicists and engineers. And in this case, too, many have answered the call, devoting their entire time to the project over the past month.

With the help of physicists and experts in the field, the collaboration managed to structure itself into groups that worked day and night thanks to the time difference between Europe and North America.

Researchers from the Federico II University and the INFN section in Naples participated in the working groups on device mechanics, software qualification and the group analyzing the data provided by the prototypes.

One of the very first ones was installed in the DarkSide laboratory directed by Professor Fiorillo, where it was possible to test its operation thanks to the support of UNINA's technical services and the availability of a lung simulator generously loaned to us by engineer De Simone of MedicAir, a company that normally uses it for educational purposes at hospitals in the region and for home care of patients.

"The Emergency Use Authorization certification from theFDA is an important success for this development to bear fruit, demonstrating the robustness of the project to deal with the emergency," - Fiorillo concludes .

 

MVM http://mvm .care/

Open source paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.10405

CESMA Scientific Technical Presidium for Emergency COVID-19 http://www.cesma.unina.it/laboratori/presidio-tecnico-scientifico-per-l-emergenza-covid-19/presidio-tecnico-scientifico-per-l-emergenza-covid-19-laboratori-aree-di-intervento/laboratorio-emergenza-covid-19-laboratorio-di-fisica