News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
3D Hubs, a Netherlands-based online manufacturing platform, has launched the COVID-19 Manufacturing Fund in an effort to support initiatives that are tackling the lack of much-needed medical supplies across the globe. The company says the fund will provide resources to these projects, enabling them to scale up the production of medical equipment, including protective masks and ventilator components.
Based on a project from a few years back developed by former MIT student Stephen Powelson, the E-Vent emergency ventilator project has now been published as open-source and relevant STL files are expected to be released soon.
Scotland-based biomaterials firm Biogelx has announced the appointment of a new CEO, Alison Clayton. Clayton will take over the leading position from Mitch Scanlan, who recently retired. The company has also announced the appointment of Margaret Temple to its board of directors as well as the completion of a successful round of fundraising.
A letter published by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides recommendations for health care providers and facilities, based on the recently issued guidance, regarding the use of devices with patients who develop respiratory compromise from COVID-19 or other respiratory disorders. These are important guidelines to follow in order to implement ventilator supply mitigation strategies in the US but can be useful for healthcare institutions, product suppliers and government institutions in other parts of the world affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
As many industrial giants around the world (Tesla, Ferrari, Airbus, FCA just to mention a few) take extensive measures to repurpose their production lines, for 3D printing companies this is just a matter of changing the CAD file. While 3D printing alone does not have the industrial capabilities to serially produce very complex machinery it can certainly play a role in many other situations that require a rapid response. The situation is evolving rapidly: 3dpbm is in touch with dozens of 3D printing companies around the world that have made their services and expertise available in a number of ways. This is how some of the leading 3D printing companies are responding to the COVID-19 emergency so far.
Global sciences company Royal DSM has announced an expanded partnership with JuggerBot 3D, a 3D printer manufacturer based in Youngstown, Ohio. The aim of the collaboration is to advance fused granulate fabrication (FGF) and drive its industrialization by developing high-performance pellet-based 3D printers and materials.
In compliance with the rules imposed by the Italian government for the health of workers and the fight against COVID-19, company activity at WASP has continued regularly. At the same time, the Italian firm decided to convert its innovation capacity in order to fight Coronavirus. The projects that the WASP Research and Development department has been working on have been temporarily set aside in order to work on two new open source project: the MY FACE MASK with interchangeable filter and the MY SPACE drip protection helmet with ventilation and integrated filtering.
It’s been only a few days since the world learned about the life-saving effort by a young team of engineers to design and 3D print venturi valves in order to save COVID-19 patients’ lives at an Italian Hospital. As further recognition that 3D printing has the potential to deliver fast solutions in emergency situations, the Isinnova team now developed and successfully tested a 3D printed adapter to turn a snorkelling mask into a non-invasive ventilator for COVID-19 patients.
The main issue, as explained in a detailed New York Times article, is that, to put it plainly, “there aren’t enough ventilators to cope with the coronavirus“. The reason why there aren’t enough is that they are extremely difficult to produce and so it takes a long time, even for those companies that have been making these machines for decades. That’s why it’s not about making 3D printed ventilators but 3D printing parts to address ventilator supply chain issues.
As the global community faces a health crisis, it is, at the very least, heartening to see how individuals, organizations and companies are uniting for the common good. Whether it’s self-isolating if you have a cold, supporting employees during these trying times or actively coming up with solutions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone has a role to play. For those with design and 3D printing experience, there is a new task at hand.