Medical Glove Enclosure Mechanism (GEM)

A touch-free enclosure that keeps airborne pathogens away from medical glove boxes!
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zaktualizowano 11 czerwca 2023

Opis

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My roommate worked in a hospital during the 2020 Covid pandemic and he started to mention a problem that he and his co-workers were encountering. They needed to sanitize every surface in the hospital rooms after they were done, but the boxes of nitrile gloves were very difficult to thoroughly sanitize!

In order to properly sanitize the gloves, my roommate would need to pull out each glove from its box, individually wipe it down, and then stow it again. However, since the gloves were just stored in their boxes, this process would take an absurd amount of time and was not being done.

Nitrile gloves are designed to act as a barrier between your skin and the things you touch. However, the way they are typically stored in most buildings may result in the box and gloves being exposed to pathogens. Every person who needs gloves must interact with the glove box, often without wearing gloves themselves. Furthermore, since COVID is spread through vapor particles in the air, boxes of gloves that are open to the air can accumulate dangerous particles.

I saw this as a great opportunity to collaborate with my friend and colleague, Kevin Ecke, to design a device that could strengthen the barrier between pathogens and patients. Our solution was a hands-free physical barrier between the box and external air, which would protect against airborne particles.

The enclosure functions using a foot-pedal that pulls the attached cord to open the enclosure. This ensures minimal interaction with the box itself while still allowing immediate access to the materials inside.

Design

Immediate Identification

Since the enclosure stores important medical equipment, it needs to be abundantly clear what the purpose of the enclosure is. The front surface needed to be transparent so users can see exactly what is stored inside.

Communication Through Form

The enclosure design is best when wall-mounted. To encourage this behavior, I added a fillet on the bottom front edge that communicates to the user, "The back surface of this object is the most stable." By making the back side of the object the largest surface, it implies to the user that it is most stable when mounted properly on the wall with the intended foot-pedal.

In addition, I wanted to include a handle as a backup option in case the foot pedal was not working. However, since it is important for users to try the foot pedal first, the handle needed to be subtle enough to avoid being used instead of the functional foot pedal. To imply its use, I used a color accent and subtle angling.

Manufacturing

My dream would be if hospitals could pay local makerspaces to manufacture these enclosures. Though this might cause trouble with the strict ways medical facilities acquire medical equipment. The BOM is as short and price effective as possible, making it accessible to local makers.

Future Possibilities

UV Sanitization

I am interested in exploring the benefits of installing UV lighting facing the interior of the box. There are several avenues of research that need to be addressed beforehand though.

  • How much UV light does it take to be effective at making the gloves safer?
  • How much time would it take that amount of UV light to damage the gloves, enclosure, or transparent front material?
  • Does the added step of adding a wall-plug make this unattainable to hospitals?

Bearing Redesign

There is a better orientation of the bearings that could be oriented, and it would take more time in CAD to implement. The expected axis of the cord or string changes during the opening motion, and a new bearing orientation would ensure smooth operation. Smaller bearings would also be possible, but I try to use extremely common materials for my projects so others can duplicate them with minimal effort. 608 size bearings are the most common size of bearings people will have lying around.

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Pochodzenie modelu

Autor oznaczył ten model jako własne oryginalne dzieło.

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