HP collaborates with the Príncipe de Asturias Hospital in the manufacture of a respiratory circuit designed to improve oxygenation of patients with COVID-19.

HP announces the production of one of the key components of the respiratory circuit developed by the nursing staff at the Príncipe de Asturias University Hospital in Alcalá de Henares in collaboration with HP. This design has been approved by the Spanish health authorities and will begin serial production immediately. This device allows healthcare professionals to have advanced oxygen therapy units with a reservoir bag and expiratory brake, similar to a conventional CPAP, to meet the needs of patients admitted to inpatient and emergency department units. This respiratory circuit raises patients’ blood oxygen saturation below 70% and above 90%, preventing deterioration and avoiding or saving time for admission to intensive care units (ICUs).

The emergency caused by COVID-19 highlights the need to seek more agile methods of material production that meet the demands of healthcare professionals. And this is where HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology has become the perfect ally for the additive manufacturing of the part designed by the nursing staff at the Príncipe de Asturias University Hospital, Spanish engineer Luis Miguel Peñalver, in collaboration with José Gómez Márquez, Director of the Little Devices Lab at MIT in Boston and founder of the MakerHealth system, under the supervision of Dr. José Andrés Cambronero Galache, retired intensive care physician and head of the ICU at the Príncipe de Asturias University Hospital.

“We are proud to put our innovative 3D printing technology at the service of those fighting the disease on the front lines and also for those who are suffering from it,” said Ramón Pastor, Global President of 3D Printing at HP. “I want to express my enormous gratitude to the nursing and ICU team at the Príncipe de Asturias Hospital for their energy, perseverance, initiative, creativity, and trust in HP to drive this life-saving project.”

This part connects an oxygen extension tube, an aerosol mask, a reservoir bag, and an antibacterial filter with a PEEP valve. It is 3D printed in Polyamide 11, a material that has already been used in ventilatory support equipment and can be easily sterilized in any hospital. HP estimates a production capacity of 10,000 units per day, capable of meeting the current demand for mechanical ventilation units in hospitals throughout the country. Furthermore, this 3D printing manufacturing model allows for the creation of industrial-quality parts from digital files that arrive immediately anywhere in the world, enabling decentralized production, offering immediate manufacturing, and achieving significant cost and time savings, as the parts are manufactured directly where they are needed. With the mass additive manufacturing of this oxygenation device, HP continues to join forces to combat this pandemic, mobilizing its 3D printing equipment, technology, expertise, and production capacity to 3D print the parts urgently needed by our hospital network. Since the start of this pandemic, HP, along with its partners, has already printed tens of thousands of 3D parts, such as face shields, hands-free door handles, mask adjusters, and face masks for hospitals in different countries.