Dr David Williams knew from his experience of voluntary work in countries such as Nepal and Zambia the difficulty of delivering sometimes even basic medical care. Many essential portable medical devices require scarce and unreliable batteries or mains power to function and bulbs are often extremely hard to come by.
It was clear that an alternative had to be found. The need to store essential medical supplies, sometimes for many years, that will work perfectly and reliably on demand ruled out batteries which are prone to corrosion, leakage and degradation over time and have an associated financial and environmental penalty
Inspired by the rise in self powered consumer devices such as radios and torches Dr Williams and a colleague John Dingley set out to create a self powered, rugged and reliable opthalmascope an essential tool in eye examinations. Cannibalising parts from existing products they soon created a demonstration prototype which proved the principles.
It was clear though, that to get the product into the market and start making a difference some additional partners would be needed. Ideally, the inventors needed the muscle and distribution of a major manufacturing companies in a related area to take up the project but from the feedback they were getting it was clear that it was not viewed as commercially or technically viable.
With funding granted by the Welsh Assembly Government, David approached PDR (The National Centre for Product Design and Development Research) to redesign the device. PDR, an accredited Centre of Excellence for Technology and Industry Collaboration based at the UWIC campus in Cardiff, took the device back to first principles and developed it from initial concept design through to functional product utilising its own extensive in-house technologies, equipment and expertise.
It was clear to the design team that the product had applications in the developed as well as developing world, greatly expanding its potential market and increasing its attractiveness to investors. As a reliable self powered light source the device could be used for other essential examinations and procedures in clinics and surgeries across the world.
A brief was developed that demanded the rapid development of a self powered device, suitable for multiple procedures without recharging. Charge time should be minimised and the light generated must be as powerful as that already available through battery powered devices.
Initial design work was undertaken to greatly improve the efficiency of the device and to create a range of initial concepts that hinted at a sophisticated design and package that could be equally at home in a snowfield or desert through to modern GP’s office or paramedics backpack.
With a final concept agreed, the first stages of the design and engineering process highlighted a requirement for a compact, light, robust, waterproof and shock resistant instrument that was strong enough to endure all types of potential damage whilst being small enough to transport manually with ease. It also became apparent that the utility of the product could be greatly extended by the addition of interchangeable medical device attachments to inspect body cavities such as ears, eyes and throat. A range of detachable device heads, including laryngascopes, ophthalmoscopes and ostoscopes, were conceptualised and developed. These offered the potential of providing significant advantages to users in cost, space and weight compared to conventional devices, which require a separate power and light source for each application.
Moving through a number of stages the design team progressed the development through more refined engineering and detail designs to more finalised design solutions suitable for trial.
Using SLA to create a master model from CAD, PDR created a series of high quality prototypes through silicone mould tooling. The parts were initially used to produce quick and economical copies of the original component to test fit and function prior to mass production.
PDR’s advanced silicone tooling techniques for optimising the performance of silicone rubber moulds to extend mould life; increase part accuracy, and enhance surface finish to create parts that exactly simulate production material subsequently led to the development of numerous short run production parts of Shakerscope. These were trailed with great success by the armed forces on military patients and casualties late last year in Afghanistan, where it became apparent that Shakerscope was highly applicable to many worldwide medical situations and medical disasters.
The resultant product ‘Shakerscope’, is an innovative medical light source that is powered by kinetic energy alone. Powered by the principle of a Faraday generator, shaking the device for 30 seconds generates enough electricity to illuminate the light for 10 minutes. With interchangeable heads the device can be used for essential eye and ear examinations as well as an laryngascope for intubuation.
Last November the device was recognised for its creativity, functionality and design in one of the world’s most prestigious design competitions, the ‘iF’ Award. It was honoured in the medical and healthcare category against high quality competition. With the competition attracting over 1,900 products from 37 countries typical winners are some of the largest and most prestigious manufacturing companies in the world. This is PDR’s fourth iF Award in the last three years alone, testimony to the talent and application of the design team.
As a huge breakthrough in medical device technology, Shakerscope has created an enormous sensation among medical professionals and government officials worldwide. With proven ability in drastically enhancing the quality of treatment patients and casualties receive in outdoor danger environments, and as a totally unique medical device with huge global potential, 2008 will see the implementation of Shakerscope across the globe in areas such as commercial aviation, medical care in developing countries and medical disasters in the armed forces.
