The Danish manufacturer of integrated servo and stepper motors, JVL, has been selected to produce a large number of the company's latest ServoStep™ motors for use in the Norwegian health care system in a very short time.
In total, the order is for 1000 new respirators, which the Norwegian companies Lærdal Medical and Servi Group will produce in Kristiansand for the Norwegian health authorities.
Time is crucial
The 1000 respirators must be produced at express speed and at a low price, told Tore Lærdal, CEO of Lærdal Medical, at a press conference yesterday where he also stated that the plan is to be able to manufacture respirators so cheaply that they are also applicable globally in countries with less strong economies when the corona pandemic strikes there.
In a co-operation between Servi Group, Lærdal Medical and the Norwegian Defense Research Institute (FFI), the new respirator type has been rapidly developed with the aim of helping a large number of patients who are not yet in a life-threating condition. This way the highly expensive and thus limited number of life-support machines can be reserved for those in critical and urgent need.
The Norwegian Defense authorities are further looking into the usage of the new emergency respirators in field hospitals providing relief for the normal civil hospitals if the need arises.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister Erna Solberg expressed great satisfaction with the interaction and agreement on the rapid production of the 1000 respirators, and she called it unlikely that Norway itself will need all the respirators and thus will have the opportunity to contribute internationally.
JVL will be very busy
In Denmark, the agreement will force JVL’s production department to work around the clock all seven days of the week. In these difficult times, JVL is only too happy to be able to help with the production of respirators, says CEO Mads Vernon Jørgensen.
The Norwegian development team chose the motors from JVL after a series of thorough tests and studies. The production starts immediately in Denmark. How much this urgent order will affect others orders is still uncertain. Some delays should be expected and JVL is hoping for the support and understanding from the affected customers.
- JVL decided early on in the covid-19 outbreak that as far as possible the productions must be kept running, and we can now see that it was the right decision, says Mads Vernon Jorgensen, since it is now possible to deliver the 1000 motors to Norway. To achieve this goal JVL has followed all the official recommendations and guide lines including the distance between people and the extended use of disinfectants. Only production staff and a few key employees are working physically in JVL’s factory north of Copenhagen. The rest of the employees are working from their homes.
Integrated stepper motors
The motors to be used in the new respirators are integrated stepper motors from the new ServoStep™ line. According to JVL, the most important key feature of these motors are that all components are integrated into the motor unit – including encoder, controller and driver electronics as well as support for Ethernet communications.