My son (a physics student) wrote to me to point me to a crowdsource project for a CPAP machine.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/airing-the-first-hoseless-maskless-micro-cpap#/story
My immediate thought upon seeing the mock up was: balony, with a capital 'B'.
It is a tiny thing looking a little like a plastic moustache. I do not see how such a small package could store enough power to run a CPAP device. It is a simple question of moving mass. People breath about 5 liters of air per minute at a low activity level. That’s 2400 liters in an-8 hour period. Air weighs about 1.2 gm/l = 2.88 KG moved in an an 8 hour period. And that illustration did not seem to have much space for a battery. Not to mention space for the magical flapping air pumps derived from CPU coolers!
And they claim a price of $3 per device… And it’s disposable.
They also say they are using a zinc air battery, which has energy density of 470 Wh/kg or .47 Wh/gm. Let’s generously say that they have 10 gm of battery—that’s 5 watt hours. Lets even more generously say that they have 8 watt hours. That’s 1 watt continuously for a night of sleep.
They are saying they can operate a CPAP machine on 1 watt, have it be the sized of a junor tootsie bar, and sell it for $3 per device.
The question I’m asking here is what should we do as engineers? Ethically, I mean. I really hate to see people taken in by such an obvious scam.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/airing-the-first-hoseless-maskless-micro-cpap#/story
My immediate thought upon seeing the mock up was: balony, with a capital 'B'.
It is a tiny thing looking a little like a plastic moustache. I do not see how such a small package could store enough power to run a CPAP device. It is a simple question of moving mass. People breath about 5 liters of air per minute at a low activity level. That’s 2400 liters in an-8 hour period. Air weighs about 1.2 gm/l = 2.88 KG moved in an an 8 hour period. And that illustration did not seem to have much space for a battery. Not to mention space for the magical flapping air pumps derived from CPU coolers!
And they claim a price of $3 per device… And it’s disposable.
They also say they are using a zinc air battery, which has energy density of 470 Wh/kg or .47 Wh/gm. Let’s generously say that they have 10 gm of battery—that’s 5 watt hours. Lets even more generously say that they have 8 watt hours. That’s 1 watt continuously for a night of sleep.
They are saying they can operate a CPAP machine on 1 watt, have it be the sized of a junor tootsie bar, and sell it for $3 per device.
The question I’m asking here is what should we do as engineers? Ethically, I mean. I really hate to see people taken in by such an obvious scam.