- Several stakeholders of the electronics industry have donated millions of dollars to combat coronavirus
- Non-medical device manufacturers have started manufacturing components for medical ventilators
- Startups have created products like CoronaOven and corona combat drones
- 3D printing tech is playing a crucial role in sourcing essentials like ventilator splitters and masks
- More than 95,000 people have been affected by the coronavirus in India. This tally for the world stands at 40,17,908
The outbreak of coronavirus has put the age-old saying – ‘Necessity is the mother of innovation’ to the litmus test. This pandemic created such a big demand for medical essentials like ventilators that even the companies with no experience in producing medical equipment had to jump in to the rescue.
One such example is Electrolube. Though the company specialises in making chemicals for the electronics industry, it had no experience in producing hand sanitizers, but it still did. The best part – all the chemicals used in manufacturing it were sourced from India, and the complete manufacturing process took place in Electrolube’s India facility as well.
“HSL500 has been created as a work of collaboration between the Indian and UK Research and Development Teams. Electrolube has received outstanding support from the Government with the processing and speed of the manufacturing license and are proud to bring this product to our local market,” stated Padmanabha Shaktivelu, general manager, Electrolube India.
Interestingly, the virus that the electronics industry is joining hands to fight against, originated from a country that is known as the hub of electronics manufacturing – China. Nevertheless, the situation now seems much in control, but whenever history against the fight with Covid 19 is written, these electronics companies will be mentioned in golden letters.
Donations despite uncertain business future
Covid 19, posed immediate danger not only to the human kind but to the world economy as well. Several reports claimed that the outcome will be grimmer than the last recession that had left the world economy in tears.
While some organisations announced pay-cuts for employees, a few came ahead and made donations to fight the coronavirus. Analog Devices Foundation donated $500,000 to Massachusetts General Hospital. The company informed that this donation will directly support the work to develop a vaccine and novel point of care testing technologies for COVID-19.
AT&S, a company into manufacturing of PCBs, not only donated Rs two million to the state govt of Karnataka but also ramped up its manufacturing efforts to support medical device makers. The company told EFY that it was operating despite being located in a Covid 19 red zone. AT&S, by the time of writing this article had manufactured and supplied PCBs to be used in manufacturing more than 15,000 ventilators.
AT&S manufactured PCBs will facilitate life-critical ventilators to offer necessary interface between the health professionals and the machine that pumps oxygen, enabling COVID-19 patients to breathe,” noted Sunil Banwari, MD & COO, AT & S India.
Navratna Defence PSU BEL also donated Rs 12.71 crores to the PM Relief Fund in India. The employees of BEL had contributed their one day’s salary into this amount.
Manufacturing ‘out of league’ essentials
It usually takes a lot of research for a company to venture into production of anything new. However, certain players of the electronics industry proved that when it comes to will, determination and betterment of humankind, nothing is impossible.
For instance, Rashmi Rare Earth Limited (RREL), the electronics manufacturing unit of Rashmi Group is currently producing 6,000 surgical masks per hour. Similarly, Electrolube, as mentioned above is manufacturing hand sanitizer and supplying the same throughout India.
Another big example is Electrolube. Though the company specialises in making chemicals for the electronics industry, it had no experience in producing hand sanitizers, but it still did. The best part – all the chemicals used in manufacturing it were sourced from India, and the complete manufacturing process took place in Electrolube’s India facility as well.
Modifying existing products
While the new product innovations are high, companies modifying existing solutions to make them battle ready against Coronavirus are higher!
India Robotics Solutions, a startup which specialises in creating solutions for India’s agriculture industry tweaked their existing drones to use them in the fight against coronavirus. The drones which were developed to spray pesticides in the agricultural fields now spray disinfectant liquids in red zones.
Prashant Pillai and Sagar Naugriya, founders, India Robotics Solutions, told EFY, “We made minor coding tweaks in the softwares of these drones to make them ready for combat against the coronavirus.”
The duo have not only given demos to various state authorities but have also implemented the use of these in collaboration with Delhi’s municipal corporation.
The next part, these drones were further modified with thermal cameras, night-vision cameras, medicine kits and a loudspeaker. These modifications as the team informed, were done keeping utility in red zones in consideration.
3D printing to the rescue
The dearth of essentials including medical ventilator parts, face masks, PPEs and many other things posed the biggest challenge in the fight against coronavirus until 3D printing startups came to the rescue.
Divide By Zero Technologies (DBZ), a Navi Mumbai-based manufacturer of industrial 3D printers, started 3D printing face shields in the mid of April 2020. The startup delivered these to hospitals in Mumbai. Three weeks later, DBZ has 3D printed close to 45,000 of these face shields.
Ethereal Machines, a 3D design startup, began 3D printing splitters for ventilators in the same month. These can be used to split the airflow from one ventilator and support two patients. WHO has termed medical ventilators as critical medical equipment to help coronavirus patients.
The scarcity of medical ventilators was not only felt by India, but by most other countries too. Another 3D printing company, that goes by the name of 3Ding, was also producing splitters for ventilators using 3D printing. Stanley government hospital in Chennai had tested these splitters with their ventilators.
Open source ventilator designs
Engineers at Renesas followed several open-source ventilator designs, including the Medtronic PB560, to come up with an easy-to-assemble three-board ventilator design. It controls the tidal volume and mixture of gas delivered to the patient while monitoring the patient’s status.
The ventilator is portable and can be used with or without gas tanks. In addition, a humidifier can be connected to the ventilator’s intake path to soothe the patient’s breathing, making it more comfortable to be connected for long durations.
“Renesas’ engineers have created a ventilator system reference design to address the challenges our global community faces as we fight the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Chris Allexandre, senior vice president, IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit at Renesas Electronics Corporation.
He continued, “Leveraging our broad product portfolio and system design expertise, we are enabling customers to accelerate their development of medical ventilator systems capable of operating in a home or hospital environment.”
Similarly, the companies producing components for medical ventilators stepped in too. Maxim Integrated Products, noted that it had accelerated the production of its medical technologies to address increased customer needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company’s semiconductor devices are used in medical equipment such as virus detection devices, ultrasounds, analytical/laboratory equipment, ventilators, patient remote monitoring devices, intravenous blood monitors, temperature loggers for critical COVID drugs, pulse oximeters, remote patient/IR thermometers, blood glucose meters for diabetics, anesthesia machines and disposable patches for blood pressure.
“In order to support efforts in fighting this disease, we are adjusting manufacturing capacity to prioritize products used in medical equipment which assists in the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients,” said Tunç Doluca, president and CEO at Maxim Integrated.
More than 50,000 people have been affected by the coronavirus in India. This tally for the world stands at 39,17,908. According to WorldMeters, more than 2,70,000 people have died due to the coronavirus infection.
The coming times might require more players from the electronics industry to join the fight as medical ventilators become the need of the hour. While the virus has not peaked in India, it is believed that the months of June and July 2020 will be critical for the country!
