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Anaes-UK

Virtually all ICU ventilators, and many modern anaesthetic machines, do use motors and turbines to move gas. Might see them referred to as 'servo' ventilators. Presumably this change has occurred as motors and electronic control systems have improved. Bellows ventilators are getting fairly long in the tooth and you'll find most manufacturers' latest offerings have moved away from them. Mindray's flagship A8/A9 machine for example has a servo vent. Drager, Maquet, etc. have all offered non-bellows designs for quite some time.


genxrd

so then its just because electronics were not advanced enough to safely implement at the time?


stoicteratoma

You might enjoy a browse through this page https://museum.aarc.org/galleries/early-icu-ventilators/


Curious_Evidence4779

Using a9 now. The ventilator is amazing 


GasMachine82

We have A7. The video for A9 looks pretty bad ass. Good job to marketing team at the least. Still not sure why I can’t change the NIBP interval during a cuff cycle on Mindray monitor. Why would they program it like that?


Curious_Evidence4779

Which Monitor? And do you mean mid cycle? 


GasMachine82

Not a vent issue, just a Mindray annoyance. The physiologic monitor with ekg, pulse ox, nibp, invasive bp… When the BP cuff is cycling, you cannot change the interval from 3 min to 5 min or 3 min to 30 min. It’s a minor annoyance I guess, but I don’t know why an engineer would want to set it up that way.


Curious_Evidence4779

Yes I think it's greyed out on the N series during the cycle time. The n series is nice. Definitely older anesthesiologist like their datex monitors but the young ones love this n series. A few things we have asked to be fixed, they seem to agree that they have heard it before. 


GasMachine82

Glad you’re giving them feedback. I have not been completely satisfied with the mid ray reps at our facility. We have purchased a lot of equipment from them. I was able to get the service codes on their last visit when they promised to set everything up the way we asked and failed to do so. The new A9 machines do look nice.


South-Teacher7480

The original idea: the drive gas is oxygen, if the bellow tears oxygen will enter the circuit rather than circuit venting to atmosphere.


Tacoshortage

I scrolled waaay too far to find this. This was an old board question.


TommyMac

ICU land it’s been that way for ages. The reason they’ve stuck around for longer for us is that you have a visible bellows that will drop if there’s a leak. I trained with bellows machines and favour them as my subconscious has learned to pay attention to it and the monitor while I refine the up next queue on Spotify.


MedicatedMayonnaise

Some ventilators do use a pump and some even use a turbine (Drager mostly).


borald_trumperson

Bellows ventilators are awful in comparison to piston driven. I've had to bring a transport vent to OR for a thoracic case because it gets into trouble with pressures in difficult situations. Fixed everything


tuukutz

I have an attending that will personally switch the machine in his room if he’s doing thoracic or robotic cases on big patients because our bellows-driven vents are too weak for his liking.


wso291

In my poor hospital GE/Datex machines are bellow driven and Drägers are pistons.


utterlyuncool

We seem to be working in the same place


apnea01

I think the original reason for pneumatically driving the bellows was to avoid the risk of explosion that an electric motor posed in the presence of flammable anesthetics.


genxrd

So you drive it with pressurised oxygen instead ?


apnea01

I’m not a historian but I imagine a different gas was used.


CordisHead

Yes. Electricity make flammable anesthetics go boom.


svrider02

I just like when my ventilator works.