Medical Design Club

The Medical Design Club (MDC) at Cal Poly is a dynamic and innovative campus organization, bringing together students with a shared passion for designing solutions in the realm of medical devices. As a member of MDC, I actively contribute to our collaborative efforts aimed at addressing real-world challenges within healthcare. Below, I showcase the projects I have worked on during my time in MDC.

2022 - 2023

Automated Pill Dispenser

Year 2

Goals

To create a smaller, good-looking, "market-ready" prototype.

Redesign

Carousel driven by gear, not directly driven by stepper motor.
Carousel placed on a plate that moves up and down z-axis while vacuum tip is stationary (more space efficient).
Sleek sheet metal exterior.

Manufacturing

Carousel Plate cut with desktop CNC Router

Test cut on spare MDF

Sheet Metal Exterior

Carousel driven by gear and motor, z axis controlled by lead screw

FDM 3D Printed Components

Carousel top view

Resin 3D Printed Components

Assortment of components and test prints

Final Design

CAD Model

Device Exterior

Buttons for Pill selection

Device Interior

Electronics housed below Carousel Plate

2021 - 2022

Automated Pill Dispenser

Year 1

Motivation

Individuals with limited mobility diseases such as Parkinson's or severe arthritis often struggle to open pill bottles. In addition, it is common for such people to need many medications on a daily basis. Therefore, an easier way to organize and dispense pills could lead to a significant impact on the quality of life for Parkinson's patients, the elderly, those with severe arthritis, or anyone who wants an easy way to organize their medicines and have them automatically dispensed.

Design

The user loads pills into a carrousel with separate hoppers for different medications.
Workflow is similar to a claw machine:
- A pill is selected by the user
- Carrousel turns so the correct pill will be picked up by the vacuum tip
- After a pill is grabbed, the vacuum tip drops it into a dispensing cup
Two carousel sections have holes, one on each side to limit the distance the carousel must move.

Design CAD Model

(expanded view)

Device Prototype

Challenges

A useful automated pill dispenser must be able to accommodate medicines of any shape or size. Therefore, a vacuum system was developed to hold a pill via negative pressure to a silicon tip and dispense it into a cup in a workflow similar to a claw machine.

2020 - 2021

Needleless Epipen Autoinjector

Motivation

Trypanophobia, or the fear of needles, can be especially difficult and traumatic for those who need lifesaving injections to prevent anaphylactic shock (extreme allergic reactions). The goal of this project was to create a cheap, easy way to inject epinephrin without the use of needles.

Methods

To deliver epinephrine without the use of needles, the drug is ejected out of the device in a high pressure jet. To minimize damage to tissue, the jet's diameter is on the order of micrometers. The high pressure is generated when an inert gas cartridge is punctured by a needle.

My Contributions

As a freshman with little design experience, this project was an incredible opportunity for me to gain hands-on, engineering experience. I embraced the task of crafting the device's workflow, though I did not design many of its mechanical components. In addition, I learned the basics of CAD (Solidworks) and used this knowledge to design the smaller, simple components of the device. Lastly, I assumed a large research role, which had an immense impact on the overall mechanism of needleless injection.

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