Product Design Blog

Blogging about things I believe are interesting and relevant to the world of evolving product design.

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Asthma Inhaler Spacer

What an ugly piece of design. However very effective. 

The idea of a spacer is to better regulate the amount of medicine you can take into your lungs. It slows down the process thus giving you better relief. 

However having conducting some primary research I have found that many people are embarrassed to use these in public. They also said they are a very awkward shape and size to carry around for day to day use. Dwelling on this I am intrigued to develop the idea of compressing this down to a much smaller compact version. But can still be made longer for the intended use.

This would mean that the product would be easier to carry and become more of an everyday product for people who suffer with asthma. 

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Literature Review

After deciding to research into how asthma is affecting the population I decided it would be useful to read up on medical design. 

Medical design is a very big industry and one of the most profitable in the product design sector. However there are many extra precautions that have to be taken into account in medical design. There is a big emphasis on quality in the design and manufacture. If this is not taken into account products could be potentially harmful to patients as opposed to helping them. This is why a vigorous range of testing is done on almost all medical products. 

It also states how important it is to have a detailed ‘Product Design Specification’, as without this you cannot detail where the product will be used, by whom and other factors such as costing. the will help to determine a specific brief for the product in question. This is something that will help e in the design phase of the project. 

This book quotes the film “City Slickers”, “You need to understand one thing; the hard part is to know what that one thing is.” This is pertinent to any design, without that one ‘thing’ that makes your product unique why would consumers choose yours over another design. 

In summary a very interesting read and a lot of good points to take forward into the design phase of my project. It is important to note there is a lot of information on the standards and regulations that need to be met within the medical design products. That might be worthy of a blog post of its own later down the line. 

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A spacer is a large plastic or metal container, with a mouthpiece at one end and a hole for the aerosol inhaler at the other. Spacers only work with an aerosol inhaler.

Asthma

Moving through my research I stumbled upon Asthma. It is said that around 5.4 million people in the UK suffer with asthma, which is around 1/12 people. 

Although it is a very common illness it is costing the NHS an awful lot of money. Around 1 Billion pounds a year to be exact on treating and caring for patients with asthma. 

Asthma is not a very life threatening disease, only 1216 people died for asthma in 2014. Considering the scale it only amount to around 1/4440 suffers died. 

Would be interesting to research why people who do die from asthma die and the causes and effects of this. I will further talk to some asthma sufferers to understand their day to day use of the inhaler, when, how and why they use it. 

[jwbdesign-blog]

Could Soldiers Wear an Anthrax-Proof "Second Skin"?

Army researchers are working on it.

Terrorism 

- With a large influx in terrorism activities over recent months it is vital that soldiers are given the required technology so that they can be as safe as possible whilst fighting in war zones. 

Although this is more of a biomedical product it is still current technology that could prove vital in the coming years. The product is to development of an already existing product which protects soldiers against chemical warfare agents. However the current suit is very bulky. 

- This design is a described as a second skin for military soldiers. The smart technology used in the fabric would mean it could prevent soldiers from exposure to chemical warfare should they be exposed to it. 

- It is basically an Anthrax Proof Second Skin. Very cool. 

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Russian Company Claims Its Device Can Automatically Detect Snipers

The device can ostensibly also solve your sniper problem with a temporary—or permanent—solution

Russian company ‘Specialised Tactical Systems’ has reported that the device can detect a sniper up to 2.5km. There is no information around the technology of the device however it is believed that it can detect a telescopic sight either by reflection or heat on the objective lens.  

The manufacturer claims the product was shipped to Venezuela where it has already saved the life of the President ‘Hugo Chavez’ from a sniper that was 800m away.

[jwbdesign-blog]

Check Out This High-Tech K9 War Harness

Honeywell's harness could relay information and even steer dogs on combat missions.

I conducted a project similar to this in my first year at university. It is interesting to look at similar variations of a product concept that I found very interesting to design. The concept of my design was focused around the dogs protection and safety. However this ‘War Harness’ makes the dog the handlers eyes and ears by attaching a camera, radio and a gps unit. Thus allowing the handler to use FPV to get the dogs POV. The radio also allows them to relay commands for the dog.

Interesting product launched by ‘Honeywell’. at the SGairshow in February 2016.