McLaren have been working around the clock to produce new equipment to help the NHS during the pandemic.
The sports car company and Formula 1 team, based in Woking, is one of 15 firms working on the Ventilator Challenge UK following calls from government to produce additional ventilators to help the most critical patients in ICU.
Their ventilator Penlon Prima ES02, is the first new ventilator approved by the UK medical regulator in the fight against COVID-19.
The device, a simplified version of an existing Penlon machine, was given the green light by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on 16th April.
Normally only around 50 of these ventilators would be made a week but the consortium has already delivered 250 of each and is scaling up its efforts with the aim of delivering thousands a week to meet the government’s order of 15,000, with an additional 5,000 of the Smiths portable ventilator most commonly used by paramedics.
At the McLaren site the corridors are lined with ventilator trolleys to help transport the equipment – which had also been designed in just three days and car assembly stations have been replaced with engineers and technicians making a series of crucial parts.
Dan Parry-Williams, Director of Engineering Design at McLaren Automotive, said:
When it was known that we were going to support this project, there were no shortage of volunteers.
Everybody is affected by this virus and a lot of us could see that we were in a position to help. That we could employ some of the things we do in our day job to this extraordinary crisis.
But that is not the only work the McLaren Group are doing, along with their Automotive and Applied technologies departments they are working with partners at the University of Southampton and Kemp Sails to develop new protective equipment.
The project led by University of Southampton has begun testing on a prototype that, if successful, will be provided for staff on wards across the country. The system features a fabric hood which covers the wearer’s head, integrated with a plastic visor to protect their face and a small portable unit delivers clean air through a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter to the wearer from a battery powered fan pack mounted on a belt.
Paul Elkington, Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Southampton said:
We must minimise the risk of infection for medical staff and stop them getting sick at the peak of the pandemic, so that they can care for others. The engineering team have rapidly developed something simple yet effective.The HEPA filtered air removes 99.95 per cent of particulate matter and the face mask protects from splashes, and so we think this will reduce the risk of infection.
Hywel Morgan, Professor of Bioelectronics at the University of Southampton added:
This is an excellent example of industry, universities and hospitals combining their expertise and answering the call to develop solutions needed to save lives in the current crisis.
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