Breathe Technologies’s Non-Invasive Open Ventilation (NIOV) [Image courtesy of Breathe Technologies]
6. Covestro: Polycarbonate enabling better ventilators
Transparent Makrolon 2858 polycarbonate from Covestro (Leverkusen, Germany) played an important role supporting a slim, low-profile design for Breathe Technologies’s Breathe Pillow Interface. The interface is used in both of Breathe Technologies’s portable wearable ventilation systems – the Non-Invasive Open Ventilation (NIOV) device and the Life2000h ventilator for life-support patients.
Breathe Technologies also used the Covestro polycarbonate in the Pillow Interface Sizing Gauge, a feature in the latest generation of the NIOV and Life2000h ventilation systems that helps patients determine the interface size with the most effective and comfortable fit.
Breathe Technologies carefully considers the materials it uses in its ventilation systems, according to Larry Mastrovich, president and CEO. “Our company is committed to bringing the highest-quality devices to market so we chose durable, lightweight and long-lasting materials for all of our products,” said Larry Mastrovich, Breathe Technologies’s president and CEO.
Covestro touts Makrolon 2858 polycarbonate as a medium-viscosity resin that features easy release from the mold. The material is acceptable for ETO and steam sterilization at 121 °C, and it is biocompatible according to many ISO 10993-1 test requirements.
Read more about Covestro and Breathe Technologies.
Most of the innovations shown look like good advances. BUT the oxygen feed system shown in #7 is far more obvious than the devices available here for at least the past 20 years. So unless it offers a real benefit beyond what has existed for many years, what it provides is “not much.”
Now as to the places where innovation is done, what I have observed is that innovation happens where ever it is not discouraged very much. Some companies work diligently to prevent any innovation anywhere except in their R&D departments, while some, such as 3M and a few others, seek to reward and encourage all their employees to innovate. And some companies, while wanting and needing innovation, have embraced cultures that press deliberately at preventing everything that assists creativity.
Thanks for the insights William. It truly is amazing—the number of ways a company can kill innovation.
Also, anything else we should have included in this list?