Coronavirus equipment shortages prompts Maingear to develop the LIV ventilator

COVID-19 cases are showing no signs of dropping anytime soon as hospitals report several issues. While most healthcare facilities have converted some areas into makeshift rooms, others have patients reportedly lining upon the hallways. Aside from capacity problems, medical personnel are reporting shortages of personal protective equipment, medicine, and ventilators. The latter is crucial for those with life-threatening symptoms that require mechanical breathing assistance. To help meet the overwhelming demand, Maingear is shifting its operations to produce the LIV.

The company might be familiar for those who mainly play games on PC for its wide range of high-end products. These include customised desktop rigs, laptops, gaming chairs, casings, and more. Its latest addition to the catalogue appears to be an emergency ventilator. It is one of the many manufacturers that have answered the call for equipment that will aid those who are in the frontlines of this devastating pandemic.

This New Jersey-based outfit is presenting the LIV as an emergency pulmonary ventilator. Design-wise it looks like a conventional gaming PC chassis from Maingear, as indicated by Kotaku. To be more specific, it resembles the F131 model that the publication reviewed back in 2012. Meanwhile, the engineers working on this project claim that most of the components are readily available with other parts 3D-printed as needed.

With the help of international experts in the medical equipment field, the machine is patterned on the platforms currently being used in Switzerland and Italy to treat COVID-19 patients. It can be controlled remotely using a companion app via a paired tablet or smartphone. For the demonstration video, the team hooked it up to a tablet but confirmed that manual controls are likewise available.

Maingear also equips the LIV with a special coupling unit that contains the exhaled air form patients as an added safety measure. Some of the other companies that are developing equipment to for the coronavirus outbreak include General Motors, Ford, Razer, and Dyson among others. James Dyson reportedly designed and produced the CoVent ventilator in just 10 days. The British government has already placed orders for 10,000 units with an additional 5,000 units donated by the company.