Digital to Physical Medical Modeling: Industrial Design Activities in Support of a Limb Cooling Medical Device

Abstract

Industrial design has a long history of leveraging anthropometrics human factors data as a basis for good design and decision making throughout the design process. This data ranges from individual measurements supporting the bespoke design for the individual to large data sets normalized across populations that supporting a much broader user group. When it comes to the design of medical devices, traditional anthropometric data has increasingly been complemented by a range of scanning methods (3D surface, CT, MRI) as a form of input with a resulting output of CAD models as well as digitally fabricated medical models. Both the digital and physical medical models can support a number of industrial design activities as well as serving as a collaborative platform between allied disciplines during the design and development of a medical device. This paper relays the specific role medical modeling played in the industrial design process for the device design of a limb cooling product. This product was targeting the impacts of tourniquet induced limb ischemia by leveraging cooling to mitigate tissue damage. Over the course of this project, limb medical models were utilized as a platform for a number of activities including supporting several industrial design methods from early ideation to testing and concept refinement.

Keywords: medical modeling, prototyping, industrial design, digital fabrication, design process, 3D scanning

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1002975