Tesla didn't do this from scratch as people here seem to assume.
Tesla partnered with Medtronic https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/index.html It seems that they also work as parts supplier for Medtronic.
Tesla Ventilator
91–100 of 147 posts
Re: Tesla Ventilator
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This is fundamentally a logistics project. Plus, they have access to Medtronic engineers, and as long as the FDA approve the devices, I have no problem with it. Indeed, they just need to fly the devices, and parts for final assembly from the Medtronic factories in China. In the current situation, it makes zero sense to spin new assembly lines when old ones are situated in the world's biggest manufacturing superclus…
China has banned exports of medical supplies. Edit: Trusting them to supply medical components seems like a huge risk at this point.
It is not true. China is in post-pandemic time and they even have to sell the over manufactured products to other countries.
And many people are shipping and donating masks to their friends oversea.
http://weekly.caixin.com/2020-04-04/101538661.html http://international.caixin.com/2020-04-04/101538867.html
Re: Tesla Ventilator
#93Yes, this is an impressive amount of work done in a few weeks by a small team at Tesla. However, medical devices, especially for life support systems, are not a Hackathon project. These devices breathe air into patients lungs. They need to be manufactured in clean room conditions, with medical grade parts, not plumbing parts from a big box store. They must be designed and tested to ISO specifications. If this fails,…
An important constrain they mention is that they are intentionally avoiding current parts to not block supply chains of existing ventilator builders
Re: Tesla Ventilator
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s more than that. Tesla engineers themselves probably are itching to help. Check out GE’s workers getting mad that the company wasn’t helping to make ventilators. People join companies like Tesla and SpaceX because they want to be challenged, have a bias for action (of course, everything still needs to be qualified), and make the world a better place. In a global pandemic that can be helped by addressing a shortag…
That's pretty much what Trump and his team say too. It's all PR to me, until they are standing next to their product, in use, saving lives.
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Re: Tesla Ventilator
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, we had a (world renowned) medical company where I live annouce an emergency ventilator design, complete with functioning prototype. The design was quickly torn apart in public by doctors working on actual Covid-19 patients (the caseload is still manageable here). The device was then shelved. If a well-known medical company can produce something that doctors say is essentially worse than doing nothing, due t…
Yes - of course. Tesla and GM shouldn't even try to help out because obviously they will build the wrong thing. What BS. Take your cynicism elsewhere. You literally are the living embodiment of my point above.
No, you misinterpret what I said. They should most definitely help out - by aiding in manufacturing a known working design at bigger scale.
Re: Tesla Ventilator
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This effort they're doing really doesn't seem like they're treating it like a "Hackathon" project. They're putting real engineering resources behind it. Engineers can and do hackathon work, but real engineering work is way more about verification and validation than hacking stuff together. Products need to ensure that they will work reliably within all operational limits. You don't ensure that with an all nighter a…
> You don't ensure that with an all nighter and a 3D printer. Does the video linked look like the result of "an all nighter and a 3D printer" to you?
Seeing as the engineers all touched their faces multiple times during the video (fidgeting with their poorly-fitted masks), I think it's safe to assume they know little to nothing about medical care, and this ventilator looks cool but will have no real world usefulness.
Re: Tesla Ventilator
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If this fails, the patient can die. If these patients receive no help, they die anyway. Given the choice between almost certain death or some experimental piece of hardware - give me the experimental hardware. > I can't imagine any hospital or doctor careless enough to > connect one of these to a patient, even in this current > emergency. I'm sure they will go through accelerated testing. > The smarter idea is to r…
The US already has a model for this though: During WW2, Ford Motor Company didn't stroke Henry Ford's ego by designing and building their own bombers -- they license built B-24s. Yes, retooling costs. But tooling costs as well, and costs more besides. With Elon's PR reach, I would expect that he could get at least one vent manufacturer to license a design to him for a dollar/handshake/whatever.
There are two major differences, though. Cars are much more similar to airplanes than they are to ventilators, and the lead time for the war effort is much longer. We missed the window for rushing experimental ventilators into production. Looking at projections[1], there's about a 5-10 day window to get these into the hands of doctors. China donating 1000 ventilators to NYC is a much bigger deal.
1: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-coronavirus-where-is...
Re: Tesla Ventilator
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes - of course. Tesla and GM shouldn't even try to help out because obviously they will build the wrong thing. What BS. Take your cynicism elsewhere. You literally are the living embodiment of my point above.
No, you misinterpret what I said. They should most definitely help out - by aiding in manufacturing a known working design at bigger scale.
DO you realize that these are car manufacturing companies trying to figure out how they can build ventilators. To build based on existing know-how will likely be incredibly expensive and prohibitive. As such, it is reasonably to expect them build these ventilators based on the realities of their current supply chain, technology, factory capabilities etc.
It is so surprising that I have to explain this to a tech audience.
Re: Tesla Ventilator
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s more than that. Tesla engineers themselves probably are itching to help. Check out GE’s workers getting mad that the company wasn’t helping to make ventilators. People join companies like Tesla and SpaceX because they want to be challenged, have a bias for action (of course, everything still needs to be qualified), and make the world a better place. In a global pandemic that can be helped by addressing a shortag…
That's pretty much what Trump and his team say too. It's all PR to me, until they are standing next to their product, in use, saving lives.
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Re: Tesla Ventilator
#100Are there certification requirements for newly designed ventilators? If so, how long would that take?
This might be one of those scenerios similar to what's currently happening with PPE - where we just have to use uncertified equipment because we have nothing that is certified left. Like many others have pointed out, if the option is this uncertified machine or certain death - which would you choose? Actual proper testing and certification would likely take years - and we need them within the next few weeks.
Who pays the liability when the ventilator backs up and blows the patient's lung apart?