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Embrace Innovations started as a project at Stanford University in the course titled “Design for Extreme Affordability” with one idea in mind: to create an extremely affordable premature infant incubator for use in developing countries. Since then, Co-Founders Jane Chen and Rahul Panicker have developed a company dedicated to providing this low-cost product to families who otherwise would not be able to afford the care necessary to ensure that their children will live past the stage of infancy. Embrace Innovations is based in Bangalore, India and works to provide their care units to homes and hospitals alike. The project described below was sponsored by Embrace Innovations in conjunction with Stanford University.
Original Product Dissected
The Project
This project was completed by four Stanford University undergraduate students - Catherine Tran, Emily Sataua, José Gutierrez and Jasmine Lee - during the Spring of 2013 in Stanford University's Mechanical Engineering Design course. Our project managers were Srishti Sundram and Ratul Narain. Our class project advisors were Edith Wilson and Ankur Shah. All four members were equally involved in the ideation, fabrication, testing, and analysis phases of this project.
Project Goal: Reduce the cost, assembly time, and manufacturing time of Embrace Innovations' Infant Care Unit by redesigning the heater module (the Smart Pak).
Primary Project Specifications:
- Should be cheap
- Should preferably have lesser number of parts
- A lesser number of layers between the Phase Change Material (PCM) and the baby results in longer duration of warmth to the baby, as the PCM has flat region around 37°C it takes about 40-60 mins for the temperature on the top of water layer to drop by 0.5°C
- Components should be easier to handle and assemble
- The assembly should have a soft water layer on the top for the baby to comfortably rest on and to evenly distribute heat
- The PCM should be contained in a frame rigid enough to prevent liquid PCM from flowing and accumulating to one side
- Should be about the size of a baby (approximately 40cm X 24 cm)
The Process
After brainstorming and prototyping different methods of improvement, a dual pouch module with two film exterior layers and one rigid center layer was chosen as the new design for the Smart Pak. We also chose to use a rigid tray with a permanently fixed ring to hold the entire product together. In theory, these three components would greatly reduce Embrace's assembly time per product. Baking pans and vinyl were the materials chosen to prototype the Smart Pak and 3D-printed plastic served as our prototyping material for the rigid ring and tray.
Prototype Photos
Original Smart Pak
Concept Sketches of Final Product
Rapid Prototype - Section View
Dual Pouch Module Concept
Heat Sealed Prototype - Section View
Ring Enclosure Clamped Concept
"Nub" Ring Enclosure Clamp
Round Ring Enclosure Clamp
The Final Product
We chose to create our final prototype out of vinyl and baking pans as well. However, aluminum laminate (aluminum foil laminated in polypropylene) is the recommended material for the final product. Three sheets of aluminum laminate, two thin and one thick, could easily be formed into the desired geometry of the module. The thicker sheet at the center would maintain the product's rigidity and keep the PCM for becoming immensely deformed and therefore unusable. All three sheets would also be able to heat seal together, which is an inexpensive, quick, and water tight assembly process. To create our prototype, we heat sealed three of the four module edges together to create the two pockets for the PCM and water. Then we followed the steps outlined below.
Step 1: Melt PCM Step 2: Scoop PCM Step 3: Pour Water Step 4: Heat Seal the Final Edges
The ring design proved to be more challenging. After experimenting with different snap fits and press fits, we found that a simple rectangular geometry held the tray and the ring together rigidly and permanently. More complex geometries required more precise and therefore more expensive manufacturing processes to ensure their success. The CAD models for our final tray and ring design are below.
Tray - Top View Ring - Top View Ring - Side View
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