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Tesla Ventilator

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Re: Tesla Ventilator

#141
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So discouraging to see such low quality and cynical comments at the top level here. It's been made very clear over the weeks here on HN how Tesla and SpaceX between them, with their overlapping engineering resources (Elon, for example) have deep experience with life support systems, at a level approved by NASA even. To diss their work as a hackathon project is pretty low. It's also been widely discussed that this cri…

> various types of the specific breathing devices asked for by medical facilities It's interesting that this is the spin you've decided to put on Elon donating the incorrect type of medical device to hospitals and then attempting to pass those off as ventilators. People have grown cynical because of Elon's own self-serving behavior and twitter publicity stunts evaporating any potential good faith meaning to his actio…

They specifically named those devices in their requests to him (C-PAP, BiPAP) so what you describe is not what happened at all.

Re: Tesla Ventilator

#142
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

China suppressed the outbreak, but is still seeing double digit new cases per day. It could easily see a huge outbreak in a few weeks and based on past behavior should not be trusted to continue exporting medical supplies.

Re: Tesla Ventilator

#143
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, except there's a big issue here, which is that Tesla can really only manufacture from parts that Tesla has, unless there are clear parts availability that can be quickly ramped up and delivered to the specific factories and in the form those factories can use.

Which is why the medical community basically shrugged at Tesla's PR pronouncement about being the white knight that will save everyone with their DIY ventilators built from car parts that might arrive sometime within 18 months if they stick to the normal Tesla production schedule. And that was before Tesla mixed up BiPAP machines with actual ventilators...

Sure. They might pull it off though. It does seem consistent with their ethos to at least try.

Re: Tesla Ventilator

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without these sorts of things, patients are dying. This is not business as usual. We are already using various hacks to overcome the shortages, any improvement is worthwhile in the very short term.

Sorry to be the bad new bear, but most people die even with them. Go look at the respirator death rates.

As an anaesthesiologist, I’m fully aware of the published death rates. You will see that they vary from 50 to 95%. The former appears achievable.

Re: Tesla Ventilator

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is starting over from scratch less expensive?

Given the time to explore cheaper parts, manufacturing processes, etc., starting over can always result in a cheaper device.

> can always result in a cheaper device.

  ^^^^^^^^^^ oxymoron alert

Re: Tesla Ventilator

#146
post #27

Yes, 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,…

>I can't imagine any hospital or doctor careless enough to connect one of these to a patient, even in this current emergency.

Well, you can choose death, I'll choose life.

Re: Tesla Ventilator

#147
post #15

Hopefully they get these right instead of ordering C-PAP machines [1] [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/billroberson/2020/04/04/health-...

I see this everywhere. I also saw where they literally listed what machines they needed, and Tesla brought the exact machines they wanted, including B-PAP and C-PAP machines.

[1] https://www.inputmag.com/tech/where-are-elon-musks-promised-...
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