Mothers of reinvention: Auburn team makes emergency ventilators from CPAP machines

AUBURN, Ala. (WBRC) - A team at Auburn is using reinvention to come up with a solution to what could be a ventilator shortage across the state.

The Auburn University engineering professors, students and alumni have successfully re-purposed a standard CPAP machine into a functional emergency ventilator for health care providers to use during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.

Team REINVENT Project(Auburn University)

The team says their goal with the Auburn RE-INVENT Project was to develop a reliable option for an emergency ventilator that could be assembled using readily available commercial off-the-shelf components combined with a home CPAP machine.

The team worked closely with Dr. Glenn Woods, a local anesthesiologist with first-hand experience utilizing ventilators for medical care.

Built with approximately $700 worth of components, the RE-INVENT is an accessory designed to pair with, and modify, a common household CPAP machine.

The prototype was developed in just two days.

This statement was taken from Auburn’s website: While this testing and development continues, the RE-INVENT concept appears to be an emergency option for consideration by health care providers when traditional ventilator options are not available for the patient. On March 22, 2020, the FDA released a letter to health care providers titled “Ventilator Supply Mitigation Strategies.” We encourage health care providers to review this guidance from the FDA as they consider whether the RE-INVENT may be an option for them as an emergency ventilator.