PC Gaming & Workstation Maker MAINGEAR To Manufacture Ventilators
MAINGEAR is a manufacturer of custom gaming desktops, notebooks, and workstations — but in a time of crisis, their skills are needed elsewhere. That’s why they’ve announced they are now using their factories to produce emergency ventilators to aid hospitals in the fight against COVID-19.
The company is located twenty miles outside of New York City, where the need is the greatest, and they have the ability to produce ventilators at a fraction of the cost — one-fourth as much as a traditional manufacturer of such equipment. MAINGEAR has utilized their tech to create the LIV — a machine that “combines redundant power circuits, multiple safety features, and a unique coupling device that contains and drains exhaled aerosolized virus from the patient while allowing routine maintenance under severe conditions.”
The LIV has simple controls and a touch screen interface, as well as preset standard values to make it easy and quick to learn for overworked hospital personnel.
“It was clear once this situation began to escalate that something had to be done,” says Wallace Santos, MAINGEAR Founder and CEO. “Within days of assembling our team, we had our first prototype ventilator ready to go. Besides the lack of medical supplies and equipment, we think there will be a shortage of medical professionals who can operate these devices especially in field hospitals, so we also made it incredibly simple to use. Now we need help getting the word out to the appropriate people.”
MAINGEAR and state and local officials are now in talks to receive and distribute the LIV ventilators to hospitals across the state and elsewhere.