Design of a new generation incubator covers for the NICU

Design of a new generation incubator covers for the NICU

El Massoudi, M.

Molenbroek, J.F.M. (mentor)
Jellema, A.H. (mentor)
Bosch, M. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Integrated Product Design

Master specialisation Medisign

2012-07-02

In this graduation report the design of a new generation incubator covers is described. In the Netherlands about 8% of all infants are born premature each year. A little 3000 of these infants are extremely premature; they are born before 32 weeks of pregnancy. Premature infants have to spend the beginning of their life in an incubator. The premature infants, of whom the vital functions are either disturbed in a life-threatening way or inconstant, are admitted on a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). These infants are continuously observed, nursed and medically treated. These treatments can be experienced as unpleasant or even painful. Premature infants are at great risk for short and long term complications. The immaturity of the nervous system has a large impact on the development of the infant. The last three months of a normal pregnancy are crucial for the development of the brain. However, even if an infant is born preterm, his brain still develops. Unfortunately there are some factors that can have a negative influence on the development, for example sensory perception and stress. On a NICU the infant is currently confronted with too much or inappropriate stimuli like sound and light, which cause stress. The infant needs all his energy to grow; dealing with outside stimuli is harmful for his development. The NICU has an incubator cover in use to protect the infants from too many light impulses. However, due to the hygiene requirements these covers are washed so many times that they are worn-out. Furthermore, the irregular shape of the Giraffe® Omnibed demands a custom-made product. In order to develop a new product to protect the infants from external stimuli a lot of research had to be done. Next to literature research and expert meetings, a qualitative explorative research was carried out. The gathered information led to a list of requirements. Five of those requirements were used for further elaboration. Subsequently, ideas were generated on the basis of those requirements. From the final ideas, three ideas were chosen to function as the basis for the concepts. From the four concepts that were created, one concept was chosen for elaboration. The end result of this project is a mock-up of a new incubator cover that fits the Giraffe® Omnibed incubator. The cover is made of fabric in combination with magnets and ferromagnetic material. The product was evaluated and recommendations are given to improve the new incubator cover.

NICU
Medisign
Premature
Light
Incubator Cover
IPD

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:48d44d22-fe3a-4879-8f81-90078f313673

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2012 El Massoudi, M.