GEEN 1400 - Deep Pressure Therapy Vest

(Top left) The front of our DPT Vest prototype, stuffed with pillow fluff to mimic the feeling of the vest inflating to compress the wearer. We mapped out the location of where we initially wanted the heart monitor to be located.

(Bottom left) The back of our DPT vest prototype, with a block of LEGOs where we initially thought of placing the air pump to inflate the vest.

(Right) A CAD drawing of our final vest. It includes the wires connected to the vest (where they would be threaded through the fabric in the shoulder), the Velcro to close the vest, and the location of the air bladders. There is also a model of the component box which would hold the Arduino and battery pack.

OUR PROCESS

The first part of our process was to determine a problem we wanted to solve. We opted to choose something related to anxiety and panic disorders because students often struggle with it. Once we figured out the problem, we were able to brainstorm ideas for solving it. We landed on the DPT Vest after thinking about weighted blankets and thunder vests for dogs. Next we had to figure out our design constraints. We wanted something slim, light weight but compressible, and something that would be within our class budget. 

As we were prototyping we decided to change the design of the vest from a front buttoning mechanism to an over the head vest with Velcro on the sides. This made it easier to place the air bladders, simplified the sewing of the vest, and helped simplify running tubing from the air bladder to the air pump. Because we switched the sewing pattern of the vest, we were able to make two options for the locations of each side air bladders, which added a "one size fits all" aspect to the vest. This meant that if a smaller person were wearing the vest we could move the side air bladders so they would still feel the compression at the intended spots.

We faced many issues with the air pump for our vest. The first pump we purchased was small (which we wanted) but was not strong enough to fill all three air bladders up enough to compress the wearer. The second pump we purchased was much larger but was strong enough to fill up all the air pouches. However, this air pump was very loud and when we tried to solve this problem the air pump broke. The third and final air pump we tried was a success! It was stronger than the first one and smaller and quieter than the second one.

 (Left) Cari (black and white dress) and I (black jacket) on shift at our group's table in the ITLL on Design Expo day.

(Right) An image of the final vest opened inside out for the air bladders, pockets, tubing, air pump, and circuitry to be seen by the public, along with our group's informational poster. 

MY ROLE ON THE TEAM

My role on the team was the physical integration lead. I was in charge of sewing the manufactured pieces and putting the vest together. I designed the final vest pattern myself, sewed it, then inserted the bladders and tubing. I worked closely with Cari (manufacturing lead) to put the electronic monitors and compression pieces into the vest in the optimum locations. My goal for the project was to learn to use a sewing machine (new fabrication method) and integrate different parts into a cohesive piece. 

As a whole, our team's project was a great success! While each member had to change the design of their individual part several times, we were all successful by the end. Because we were all successful in our individual areas, when the time came to incorporate each part into the vest, we were able to do it with ease.