Amid the coronavirus pandemic, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have developed a ventilator that can be made with a 3-D printer, does not require electricity and can be produced for less than $10 in materials, university officials said Friday.

The university filed for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on Friday to release the design to the public.

Albert Chi, a trauma surgeon at OHSU who also on 3-D printed prosthetics for children, said he hopes the ventilators can be deployed worldwide.

“The goal is to provide it for free to whoever needs it,” Chi said in a statement.

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The design can produce a workable ventilator in three to eight hours, according to the university, and functions using only a common oxygen tank and springs that are available in most hardware stores.

“I wanted to have something we could print everywhere without the need for special equipment or custom manufacturing,” Chi said.

The design for the printable ventilators was a collaboration between Chi and other OHSU researchers, 3-D printing design firms, a nonprofit from the University of Central Florida and Nike, which helped print the prototypes.

Ventilators were in short supply in the early days of the pandemic as healthcare workers worried that demand for the breathing machines could outpace supply. Those worries ebbed in Oregon, and the state sent 140 machines to an overwhelmed New York in March.

Still, apprehension remains on whether there will be enough ventilators for COVID-19 patients worldwide or if a second wave of the illness returns in the fall.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Chi said.

-- Kale Williams; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale

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