Here is your monthly dose of my Canadian engineering news created for licensed and aspiring engineers, geoscientists and technicians in Canada. Stay informed and impress your colleagues with your newfound knowledge.
Thanks for reading and have a great month!
Gavin Simone, P.Eng., PMP, LEED AP
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Thank you for reading this month’s newsletter. Here is this month’s question: what pandemic-related engineering solution are you most impressed with?
I am impressed with 3d printed medical equipment and PPE!
During this pandemic the most exciting thing that I can see is to work from home and to be able to resolve all my work’ issues (almost 95%) by using the new technology as video conference meeting and high speed internet, we are lucky to have all of these privilege to be able to do our engineering work in a good way
I believe that probably the use of AI to identify for COVID-19 cases from X-rays with over 95% of sucess. being a software , small countries don’t need to rely on thousands of reactive tests and the wait for them. It can potentially save millions of dollars.
I’m most impressed with the small innovations I keep seeing at restaurants and grocery stores. One fast food chain had a neat little arm built to take payment and hand out the bag of food.
Tesla’s ventilator design and explanation video was what caught my attention! It was really well thought out, and the fact that it was designed from car parts is just icing on the cake. It’s too bad that it doesn’t look like anything came out of it in the end.
Just how fast they were able to get testing developped, apporved and into production for a novel virus!
I am thoroughly impressed by the ramp up of volunteers donating GPU time on folding@home servers.
I’m impressed with the COVID-19 data curve.
I’m impressed with automobile companies helping with manufacturing of ventilators and PPE.
I am impressed with all different type of homemade mask everyone is making. Some are design with filter interchangeable option, some are design “Face Mask with Ties” instead of “Face Mask with Ear loops” which easy to your ears for long hour’s user, some are even design a headband with buttons that people can wear ear loops face mask over the buttons. These ideas are simple and practical.
This pandemic has been a revolution of innovative solutions one after the other, the following just to name a few:
1. Civil engineering: critical medical infrastructure like makeshift hospitals in New York and massive 1000-bed facility in China in under a week.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmgPVhubmQA
2. Mechanical engineering: Innovation to split one ventilator between two patients with engineering flow-regulating valve and using alternative medical equipment for mechanical ventilation.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssaPdg5hD2o
3. Computer engineering & Machine Learning: A multitude of health monitoring services and movement tracking apps to determine the virus spread developed in many parts of the world.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCg8vkYuRB8
4. Biomedical engineering: Development of alternative tests for covid detection like the rapid antibody testing. Also, the massive clinical trials in the race for a vaccine is witnessing a huge innovation in this branch of engineering.
5. Electronics & electrical engineering: Exponential ramping up ventilator production in Canada and US through major design, operations and assembly line innovation by non-medical equipment makers.
6. Design solutions: Many innovations have been made on touchless door handling like fixing foot plate at the base of the door or attaching a 3D printed arm platehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hac0h5IMmm4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvCxY3BCE7E
I found the last one the most interesting because of its simplicity and economical to produce while also contributing towards stopping the spread.
I am impressed with companies coming forward to modify the production lines to manufacture PPE.This shows how Engineers can contribute our fair share in an emergency situation like this. We as engineers should be proud of the work we are doing behind the scenes to support many front line staff
I’m impressed with the cheap and effective version of ventilators that FORD company was able to come up with and manufacture in only 30 days, plus the 3D-printed splitter that will allow a single ventilator to treat multiple patients in the same time. Very creative!
Tesla’s Ventilator was amazing!
The Escalator Handrail’s UV Sterilizer is a pandemic-related engineering solution that I am most impressed with.
The pandemic-related engineering solution that I am most interested in were the submissions for the Code Life Ventilator Challenge, more specifically Queen’s Engineering’s submission of their low cost, easy to operator ventilator that utilizes Continuous Positive Airway Pressure technology.
Contact tracing apps that can still respect privacy
My favourite innovation are the sanitizing stations that can be found at Canadian grocery stores, which use UV light to disinfect purchased groceries at checkout. A great way to quickly help people stay safe from germs in a very public place.
The rapid pivot that companies were able to make in mass manufacturing to make totally new products like ventilators using their existing supply chains and some help from the people who know the parameters needed for proper function.