In just 100 hours from order to completion: seven Formula 1 teams help in the fight against the coronavirus crisis. Mercedes now presents a respirator.
With this device, the medical profession is making use of the strengths of the racing teams.
Formula 1 stands still and nobody knows when the 2020 season could start. But instead of sitting back in the motor sport free period, the seven racing teams based in the UK are getting involved to combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Medicine relies on the strengths of the F1 Mercedes team develops ventilator
Article by Torben Siemer from ntv.de
Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, McLaren, Williams, Renault, Haas and Racing Point have initiated the “Project Pitlane” to help the British authorities contain the pandemic and its consequences.
According to the official announcement by Formula 1, the first success of this cooperation is already in use: the Mercedes team has developed a ventilator which should save people suffering from Covid-19 from intensive medical treatment.
The National Health Service, the British health authority, has now approved the machine. Clinical tests are to be carried out as soon as possible in order to produce the urgently needed device in larger quantities and to be able to use it nationwide.
Few days instead of several years
“Less than 100 hours have passed from the first meeting to the production of the first unit,” wrote University College London (UCL), with which Mercedes is working, in a memo. Engineers from the Mercedes engine department, the college and doctors from the college’s hospital have succeeded in developing a machine that allows patients with lung disease to breathe through a mask without having to run tubes through the mouth or skin.
To achieve this, an existing technology used in China and Italy but not yet approved in Great Britain was analysed, reconstructed and improved in a very short time by means of reverse engineering.
Normally such a process would take several years, as UCL engineer Tim Baker said: “Given the high demand, we are grateful to be able to shorten this process to just a few days”. Using computer simulations, Baker says he has succeeded in building a modern machine “suitable for mass production”.
There was one thing that was of particular benefit in terms of speed, according to Baker: “We were able to take advantage of the capabilities of Formula 1. After all, the teams are used to identifying problems, developing solutions and testing them in practice within a very short time. This expertise is to be put to use in the “Project Pitlane”, which is a response to a request from the government for support in the fight against the corona virus.
Numerous companies are getting involved to make ventilators available as quickly as possible.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Article/Source: german version on Tuesday, 31 March 2020 by Torben Siemer from ntv.de: https://www.n-tv.de/sport/formel1/Mercedes-Team-entwickelt-Beatmungsgeraet-article21682636.html
( Photo: imago images / Hoch Zwei)
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Now Formula 1 get´s interesting even for me 😉 Test