Lucknow: Students and faculty at an engineering college in Lucknow have created an indigenous oxygen concentrator that claims to aid those suffering from Covid-19.
Adarsh Vikram and Ambesh Pratap Singh, both electrical engineering students at Tirupati College of Engineering in Mohanlalganj in Lucknow, created this indigenous concentrator under the leadership of Project Guide and College Director Ashutosh Sharma as well as Head of the Department (HOD) of Electrical Engineering, Rajendra Dixit.
Dixit said after the shortage of oxygen during the Covid-19 crisis, people are buying oxygen concentrators from the market at exorbitant prices.
“Moved by this overcharging of people in need of oxygen, together with the help of the students, we have created an indigenous concentrator which has been prepared at half the price of a concentrator available in the market. The speciality of our oxygen concentrator is that it is completely indigenous,” he said.
Dixit added, “We are doing our best to launch our oxygen concentrator in the market. We have contacted administration officials. This concentrator operates at a capacity of nearly 10 litres per minute. It is capable of delivering 93 to 95 per cent pure oxygen by separating oxygen and nitrogen from the atmosphere. It weighs nearly 16 kg.”
“We had to struggle a lot to make this concentrator. It took four attempts to finally create this indigenous medical equipment. It costs nearly Rs 40,000. Our concentrator can discharge 10 litres per minute which is quite effective in severe cases of Covid-19,” Dixit claimed.
College Director Ashutosh Sharma said that the students have made this indigenous concentrator on a trial basis.
“At present, people are in dire need of this medical equipment. If the UP government takes active interest in our project, we are ready to help in whichever way possible. If the government helps us in in this initiative, people can get necessary help,” he claimed.