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Now that Medtronic has open sourced (WIP reportedly for its completeness) the design of a ventilator, the following question to experts in medical engineering with specialization on lung ventilators.

What could be blocking obstacles, if any, for a typical DIY shop with say mid-range equipment to replicate such a device following these specs?

J. Doe
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A typical DIY shop would fall over the electronics immediately. This is more a piece of electronics than a mechanical device. First of all, the shop would need the source of the chips which as far as I can tell aren't even referenced. This is a set of assembly drawings, not complete product specifications. It tells you how to build a circuit board, but certainly not the processor at the heart of it. Second, the shop would need a software arm to write the software for the product, which is also not given. What is given is a set of software Requirements, which is very different from software design specifications.

Maybe a manufacturer of similar devices could use this to aid their design and manufacturing process, but a DIY shop has no chance.

Tiger Guy
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  • According to the licence document https://www.medtronic.com/content/dam/medtronic-com/global/Corporate/covid19/documents/permissive-license-open-ventilator.pdf Medtronic are distributing the software as part of the specification. Obviously, without it the whole exercise would just be a silly publicity stunt. (I haven't downloaded the spec itself) – alephzero Mar 31 '20 at 02:21
  • are they distributing the integrated circuits as well? – Tiger Guy Mar 31 '20 at 06:01
  • from the circuits listed in the specs it looks like you woudn't need lithoraphic processes. Have a look. – J. Doe Mar 31 '20 at 06:35
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    agreed - there are indeed IC names seen in circuit plans like ST10F278 by ST Microelectronics. A DIY shop can't make them, never heard of lithography DIY shop for ICs. – J. Doe Mar 31 '20 at 11:48
  • Why all the hangup about "not being able to make an IC?" Everybody who designs and manufactures electronic products buys components. You don't manufacture your own copper wire and solder, either! – alephzero Mar 31 '20 at 14:53
  • @alephzero the question was could a small DIY shop do it, which I took to be like building a model steam engine. – Tiger Guy Apr 01 '20 at 03:10