TVO designing inside and outside the box

摘要

TRENDSETTER Vulcan Offshore (TVO) vice president Kevin Chell describes the US engineering firm's specialty as "problem solving - if you don't have a problem, you don't need to call us". But as the threat of the novel coronavirus spread, the Houston-based company received a problem-solving request that lay far outside its usual scope. TVO is now doing a brisk side business as a designer and manufacturer of medical equipment that can be used in treating Covid-19 patients and other infectious diseases. The company joins dozens of large and small oil and gas service providers around the world that have stepped up to offer expertise, manufacturing capability, money and valuable time in the fight against the pandemic. For TVO, the opportunity arose in March with a call from a local pulmonary and critical care doctor, Luis Chug, to a TVO mechanical engineer he knew, Luis Rodriguez. Chug saw a need for better protective equipment for physicians and staff and began sketching a design for a box-like structure that would restrict exposure but allow medical procedures to be conducted.