About Us

Air for All

Project Inspiration is part of ‘Air for All’, an initiative of TU Delft that consists of three projects, each which develops a different type of ventilator. This initiative consists of:

  • Project Inspiration – develops a mechanical ventilator, inspired by the 1960s ventilator from Rijksmuseum Boerhaave. No electronics are required for this device. This device is easy to build and repair by anyone, including in less developed countries. The device can be used outside of a hospital setting.
  • OperationAIR – develops an emergency ventilator that meets the European safety requirements as closely as possible and that resembles the regular respiratory equipment used in Dutch hospitals in terms of user-friendliness and settings. The device is compatible with the infrastructure in Dutch hospitals.
  • BTB-Breathe – develops a ventilator consisting of standard parts that are available locally all over the world. The device is compatible with the infrastructure in Dutch hospitals, but also with the infrastructure in foreign hospitals.

What makes us different?

Short time to market with widely available parts

Easily scalable, production up to 1000 machines per week

Robustness of the purely mechanical working principle

Developed in cooperation with intensivists

Option to connect a built-in humidifier

Low estimated cost price

About Project Inspiration

Project Inspiration is a non-profit team at Delft University of Technology working on a mechanical ventilator to battle the growing global shortage.

There is a high demand for easy-to-produce, durable ventilators in intensive care units across the world. This project aims to develop a mechanical ventilator that can be easily deployed and incorporates the basic functions necessary to ventilate COVID-19 patients. We not only aim to design the system, but we will also facilitate the implementation of local production and use to create the needed impact. 

Similar to the extensively used ventilator from the 60s that we based our design on, the East-Radcliffe ventilator, the working principle is purely mechanical. It has been designed in close collaboration with intensivists and military doctors to meet specific requirements and high standards, while it also can be fabricated with standard machinery in low-tech environments. It does not depend on specialized medical components that are part of standard ventilators. Such components are currently very scarce on the world market.