NVIDIA Chief Scientist Releases Low-Cost, Open-Source Ventilator Design
NVIDIA Chief Scientist Bill Dally this week released an open-source design for a low-cost, easy-to-assemble mechanical ventilator.
The ventilator, designed in just a few weeks by Dally — whose storied technology career includes key contributions to semiconductors and supercomputers — can be built quickly from just $400 of off-the-shelf parts, Dally says.
Traditional ventilators, by contrast, can cost more than $20,000 — and that’s when the world hasn’t been slammed with demand for the life-saving machines.
“I hope that we don’t get so many people sick that we run out of ventilators,” Dally says, speaking from a spartan home electronics workshop stocked with oscilloscopes, voltmeters and other lab equipment.
“But I want to make sure if we do, something like this is ready,” he adds.
Ventilators and Coronavirus
Ventilators, of course, are urgently needed around the world to address the medical crisis that has gripped the globe.
Check out NVIDIA Chief Scientist Bill Dally’s open-source design for a low-cost, easy-to-assemble ventilator .
Of patients that are infected with COVID-19 , between 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent develop acute respiratory distress syndrome severe enough to need a mechanical ventilator, Dally explains.
Dally’s aim was to build the “simplest possible” ventilator.
His ventilator is built around just two easily sourced, key components – a proportional solenoid valve and a microcontroller to regulate the flow of gas through the valve to the patient.
Dally holds more than 120 patents. He’s had teaching and research stints at Caltech, MIT and Stanford, where he chaired the computer science department.
He’s led NVIDIA’s research team since 2009. It includes more than 200 scientists from around the globe focused on areas such as AI, computer vision, self-driving cars, robotics and graphics.
Dally began exploring how to make a contribution after NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang called on company leaders to look for ways to help with the COVID-19 pandemic .
Dally quickly connected on phone calls and in video conferences with leaders across the technology and medical fields.
NVIDIA CEO: “It Works!”
Then, when kayaking on the cool, crystal-clear waters of Lake Tahoe in early April, where he was sheltering in place, inspiration struck.
NVIDIA Chief Scientist Bill Dally built the first prototypes of his design in his home workshop. Dally went online and ordered a solenoid valve, which uses an electromagnet to squeeze a valve open and shut.
Then he pulled the microcontroller, a cheap, stripped-down computer, out of the home-brewed cooling system he’d built for his wine cellar.
After pulling a couple of late nighters in his home electronics workshop — and cranking out several thousand lines of code — Dally had a working prototype built from common pipe fittings and a few...
