Strengths:
- Readily Sourced and Repairable: Each component used in making the automation mechanism is commonly available in Indian markets so if any part were to be damaged, it could be easily replaced and hence the system could be repaired with minimal efforts and complications. This is in accordance with our requirement of making the device accessible.
- No damage to the BVM: There is no physical damage done to the BVM with our design. The mechanical push to the bag does not damage the device. Although the BVM is not easily detachable specially in a crisis situation, our team has not permanently damaged the bvm in any way.
- Programable: Our pumping mechanism is driven by an easily programmable microcontroller which gives us the ability to adjust or modify the pump rate as required (pump rate is usually constant across patients experiencing hypoxia as mentioned by our stakeholder). We are currently able to pump the bag at 14 breaths/min which is the average desired pump rate.
- Affordable: As we are reusing and recycling parts that would normally end up in landfills. We have reduced the overall cost of automating aspects of our device. Furthermore, most medical centres (including small remote ones) carry BVMs on-site in our target communities, so that will also decrease the production cost and by extension making our product more affordable for hospitals. In the future we are planning to work with electronic companies (that make printers, blenders, typewriters etc) to give us their e-waste as well.
- Modifiable: Our design is highly modifiable as the motor, power source, microcontroller and base can be replaced by alternatives fairly easily. And our controller is programmable so that can be altered as well.
- Power Requirement: We require voltage*current amount of power to partially squeeze the BVM currently but we suspect that requirement will be raised by X Watts, which is not very high.
- Usage of repurposed parts (environmentally friendly): As an agile team and because of the lack of mechanical and electrical expertise, our team thought it is best to land on a design that agrees with our evaluation criterion by experimenting with different basic pumping mechanisms. We acknowledged that in doing so we may add on to electronic waste significantly and we know that each year we are generating 40 million tons of electronic waste[1]. So, we are repurposing components from a damaged 3D printer to make our MVP. We believe that any electronic consisting of either a motor-driven or pneumatic pump-driven component can be repurposed in order to make our automation possible. We may need to replace our current design with more power-efficient, portable and high thrust providing alternative but reuse and recycling will be at the core of any modifications made.
Weakness:
- Portability: Our current design can not afford portability as we are using the inner metallic frames of a damaged 3D printer as the structure that holds the BVM and other automation components in place. We would like to replace the current structure with lightweight plastic or wooden structure during our future iterations. We would also like to make the design a lot more compact so that it requires minimal space on board the ambulance.
- Weight: The current design is quite heavy as we have several components such as the frame that hold other components in place. And we also have to count the weight of the power supply. We must figure out a way of decoupling sections of the automation functionality such that only lightweight components are placed in close proximity to the patient while heavier components are permanently mounted on the ambulance with connectors extending towards the patient.
- Size: The size of our current implementation is quite large and could cause injury to paramedics while trying to transfer it between locations or to the patient during the journey. Decoupling various subfunctions of our mechanism will help make the size smaller and less intrusive.
- Compression: The current implementation does not afford complete compression of the self-inflating bag as we are unable to generate sufficient thrust required, using the current stepper motor. This may lead to insufficient amounts of oxygen/air reaching the patient’s lungs which is a very damaging and an undesired scenario. Hence, we would like to replace the current model of stepper motor with a high thrust providing pumping mechanism, such as pneumatic pumping.
- Detachability: The BVM cannot be easily detached in our current design in the case of failure of the automation component. An additional BVM would need to be carried if there is a need to switch to manual pumping mode, which is not practical. We wish to account for detachability in case of system failure for our Alpha release by making a different base to hold it in place.
- System Isolation: Since the current implementation has not been secured within an isolated system, there are chances that some components come loose and need fixing by paramedics that may not be electronically savvy. Loss of connection to the microcontroller and power supply would also result in the pumping stopping which can lead to the patient withdrawing in a state of hypoxia. This would also require time and efforts in efficiently fixing the current design in place (on board the ambulance) as it does not afford portability.
- Power Supply: We would like to replace the DC power supply we are currently using by a rechargeable battery. We wish to explore solar powered rechargeable batteries for our future design iterations.
References
[1]Electronic revolution=Ewaste. (2017). Electronic Revolution=Ewaste. https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/electronic-waste-facts