Need ideas for class project!

In anatomy the professor wants us to invent of a medical device that can be made of relatively cheap materials to substite the more expensive counterpart that others cannot afford in third world countries.

Ex. A lawn chair with added wheels to create a low cost wheelchair.

Thank you in advance!

 

look at the type of metal the instruments are made out of. and once you figure that out, think of a one time use metal, that is strong, cheep and sterile ( Engineer thinking ) innovate.

let me know if that helps, or tomorrow while i am walking around the manufacturing facility i might figure something out for you.

 

Ok, i got this. Oxygen tank = expensive as shit.

Leafblower + some tubes from your hardware store = A+

 

Well the cheapest metal I can think of is aluminum foil. Other than that maybe tin or metal used from recycled aluminum cans.

As for a leaf blower, don't you think it'd be too pressurized for the lungs to handle. What about the carbon monoxide fumes its release? Or are you referring to an electric blower?

 

Electric, with a big ass extension cord.

 

I will do some metallurgy research at work tomorrow. My boss is awesome to ask questions like this too. If i am getting too engineering involved let me know

 

Haha alright. Now with an oxygen tank they use pure o2 so the patient doesn't inhale any contaminates. With the leaf blower it would just push the air that's outside in. How would we filter it? Throw on a URD CAI?

 

@csteph

I'm in school for biomedical engineering so whatever you got throw it at me. I thought of a few ideas, yet they aren't as practical as I hoped. It really just needs to be simple and cheap, it's easy to get off topic that's what kills me!

 

a body contoring air pillow can be made out of a large inner tube
Lift chair http://www.ojmedical.com/pride_mobility/p_lc358p/lift_chair_gl_358p
= normal chair + floor jack and the proper hinge setup

Soreass gel seat http://www.ojmedical.com/homedics/obuofstgelxz/the_gel_seat
Cornmeal inside a tied up in a plastic bag shoved in a pillowcase.

 

Now we're getting somewhere! I like where this is going. Now the how would we make the floor jack automatic? Even a long bottle jack can do the trick unless the person weighed 3 tons lol

 

Maybe keep it hand operated, after all man people with difficulty standing still have some arm strenth.

 

True with the appropriate amount of leverage I'm sure you can get lift. And I forgot we are talking about >300lbs, not a truck so it'd probably be much easier.