University of Pittsburgh: Medical Product Design Project

Medical Product Design - Using A Wide Variety of Design Skills to Recreate a Blood Pressure Monitor

Throughout the semester in Medical Product Design (course code: BIOENG 1024), a class I took during the fall semester of my junior year at the University of Pittsburgh, I learned many practical device ideation and design skills. Our semester-long goal was to recreate a portable blood pressure monitor device using these design skills, and to have the final product be of considerable quality.

We began the semester with extensive drawing instruction, resulting in us being able to sketch orthographic projections, as well as isometric, perspective, and exploded views of primitive parts and complex objects. Then, we deconstructed the blood pressure monitors that we would be recreating, and completed a Bill of Materials in order to assess the different parts we would need. We used foam core to make scale models of the blood pressure monitor housing, and used Fusion 360 and 3D printers to recreate the air pump motor within the device, later using a lathe to recreate the same part. A mill was used to recreate the device's LCD screen. We used vacuum molding machines to form the packaging for our blood pressure monitors and cuffs. Laser cutters were used to cut nylon and other materials into their proper shapes for the cuff component, which we used sewing machines to finish. Housings for the monitors were 3D printed, sanded, primed, and painted to create a high-quality look, and laser-cut acrylic was used as the faceplate of the monitor, with back-applied vinyl graphics to mimic the actual monitors we were given and back-painted to ensure a sleek final look.