Mercedes F1 Team, University College London Design Breathing Aid for COVID-19 Virus Patients

With the coronavirus pandemic outbreak affecting world Mercedes' Formula One team has provided inputs in designing a breathing aid for COVID-19 virus patients. The device will help those patients who are out of intensive care. Mercedes' engine division in association with mechanical engineers at University College London (UCL) have developed the device, Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), which assists in breathing. Coronavirus Pandemic: 5 Simple Tips For Taking Care of Your Car During Lockdown.

The device is already in use in countries like Italy and China, who have been hit hard by the novel coronavirus. Reportedly, after the first meeting on March 18, the engineers worked at UCL's campus to produce the first device.The newly created CPAP device has now received approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. And before the mass production, around hundred devices will be used at University College Hospital for clinical trials.

"The Formula 1 community has shown an impressive response to the call for support, coming together in the 'Project Pitlane' collective to support the national need at this time across a number of different projects," Mercedes HPP chief Andy Cowell was quoted as saying by autosport.com.

"We have been proud to put our resources at the service of UCL to deliver the CPAP project to the highest standards and in the fastest possible timeframe," he added.

Professor Tim Baker of UCL Mechanical Engineering said: "Given the urgent need, we are thankful that we were able to reduce a process that could take years down to a matter of days. From being given the brief, we worked all hours of the day, disassembling and analysing an off-patent device.

"Using computer simulations, we improved the device further to create a state-of-the-art version suited to mass production. We were privileged to be able to call on the capability of Formula 1 - a collaboration made possible by the close links between UCL Mechanical Engineering and HPP."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 30, 2020 03:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).