The Author Mr.O.P.Manocha is an Ex-Scientist, DRDO and Fitness Motivator As hospitals around the world desperately need Ventilators to cope up with the ever growing Covid-19 cases where people develop Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome, let us understand the technologies underlying this life saving device. Ventilator is a device that moves air in and out of the lungs thus giving artificial breath to patients who are unable to breathe on their own. This condition may occur due to respiratory diseases which may put at risk the life of the patient due to drop in Oxygen level or an increase in Carbon di Oxide levels. Patients who are undergoing surgery also need artificial respiration aid. In 1928 US developed a mechanical ventilator'œiron lung' using noninvasive negative pressure technology. The negative-pressure ventilator was a full body type ventilator also known as tank ventilator which consisted of an air tight enclosure in which the patient had to be put in a sitting position. Negative pressure was generated by pumping air into and out of the enclosure. This was widely used during polio epidemic.UK came up with ventilators that utilized bicycle hub gears and automotive wind screen wiper motor which provided a range of speeds toinflate the lungs. Use of electric motors was dangerous as it caused explosion in the presence of anaesthetics such as ether and cyclopropane.Gas technology based Ventilators which became popular in Europe were then developed which were followed by small and silent Electronic Ventilators in 1971. Germany developed Microprocessor based ventilators in 1982which allowed controlled gas delivery and monitoring of patients. After the global spread of H5N1 influenza in 2003, 'œPandemic Ventilators' were made as they were the last resort during bird flu pandemic. After the Corona Virus Pandemic, global efforts are now on to produce different ventilators to reduce mortality rate among patients. Amodern positive pressure ventilator essentially consists of an air reservoir, set of valves, tubes and a disposable patient circuit for inhaled and exhaled air. The air reservoir is pneumatically compressed to provideair or oxygen mixture to the patient. The turbine pushes air through the ventilator, with a flow valve adjusting pressure to meet patient-specific parameters. When pressure is released, the patient exhales air passively utilizing the elasticity of lungs. Ventilators these days arecontrolled electronically with embedded systems as they are life critical devices. They are fitted with monitoring and alarm systems which respond to various parameters like pressure, volume of air specific to the patient and ventilator functions such as leakage in air, power and mechanical failure. Power redundancy is provided by using batteries to make the ventilators highly reliable.Most ventilators also have backup mechanisms to enable manual respiration in the absence of power. They may also have anti suffocation safety valves which open to atmosphere in case of any power failure. Technologies like negative ion generator to inactivate the virus, ventilator splitters to accommodate 8 patients on one ventilator are also being incorporated. The purpose is to make sure that the ventilators are safe, efficient and reduce any injury to the lung during ventilation process. Ventilators of the future will be integrated with all the other medical equipment used for managing the patient. They will be programmed to consider various patient's parameters like body weight and sex amongst other vital parameters. They will feature smart alarm systems to minimize noise in the ICU. They will keep track of number of breaths, inhalation and exhalation timings etc. They will work intelligently utilizing fuzzy logic and will form part of Medical Decision Support Systems which will enable the Medical Team to take critical life saving decisions. After Covid19 Virus struck, multiple agencies including the government, entrepreneurs, academics, and even automobile companies are working day and night to design and build more than 50,000 ventilators per month by May 2020. These include Indian Railways, AIIMS, PGIMER, BHEL, Bharat Electronics Limited,Maruti and Mahindra & Mahindra amongst others. Various other small scale industries around the world are gearing up for manufacture of ventilators based on Open Source designs. The availability of 3D Printers and open source microprocessors will also aid the development of Ventilators to enhance the medical supplies.