Beko R&D is part of a consortium developing the Impilo Ventilator, a low cost, open-source ventilator in response to the global COVID-19 crisis. In partnership with international collaborators, Beko produced 20 prototype ventilators to be used for pre-certification and demonstration of the system. The aim is to procure contracts to support certification, scale-up and manufacture of the ventilator, enabling supply to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the M4R programme Beko were able to undertake multiple rounds of testing to determine the ventilator’s performance aligned to the regulatory requirements necessary to achieve accreditation as a medical device. A key part of this testing was to ensure that the ventilator is not contributing airflow contaminants such as lubricant by-products or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the airflow.
The ventilator development project represents a significant departure from the core activity of Beko and their partners’ usual business and access to the expertise of NPL through M4R has been a huge help in the product development and enabled potentially high costs of bespoke testing to be off set. State-of-the-art methods for performing this type of measurements available at NPL and access to these resource through the Measurement for Recovery programme has enabled Beko to perform pre-compliance testing to ensure confidence in the system, before incurring the expense associated with full accreditation testing.
