October 26 - December 6 2023
3D printed model of our final container design
The goal of this project was to design a special container to hold a surgical tool. This container would be transported via a robotic arm called the Q-arm into an autoclave for sterilization.
My role for the project was the Coordinator for the Modelling sub-team.
Our design involved taking into account the objectives and constraints and formulating the functions for the design. Our objectives included:
Our constraints included:
Our functions included:
Our final design met all of our objectives and functions while staying within our constraints.
October 26 2023
Each sub-team was assigned a different surgical tool and footprint.
My sub-team was assigned the bone saw and its respective footprint.
Our designed container would have to hold the bone saw and fit inside the footprint.
Model of the bone saw
Model of the footprint
October 26 - November 1 2023
My sub-team member and I started individually prototyping different container ideas to hold the bone saw.
Both our designs incorporated ridges on the side so that it wouldn’t slip out of the Q-arm’s grip. My design was rectangular and caved in at the middle as a ridge. My team member’s design was trapezoidal with a small base and large top and caved out to form a ridge.
We did not include dimensions yet because these were only concept sketches.
My concept sketch
My partner’s concept sketch
We were then tasked with creating each other’s concept sketches at home and out of cardboard.
Both our designs looked good although I think mine looked slightly sloppy with the electrical tape and didn’t exactly have the same trapezoidal sides as my partner’s concept sketch.
This was because creating the box with those angled sides didn’t require any measuring and involved much less cutting with scissors.
It was acceptable for our purposes as it was just a prototype.
My box created using my partner’s concept sketch
My partner’s box created using my concept sketch
November 2 2023
After creating and learning from our concept sketches, my sub-team and I created a preliminary model of the container in Autodesk Inventor.
We specified dimensions for the container so that it would both fit in the specified footprint and fit the bone saw. I made a slight modification to my previous design while my partner’s design stayed the same.
I started with our container’s footprint. I then made a rectangular base within the footprint, large enough to house the bone saw. I then subsequently used 4 offset from plane and loft actions to get the shape, then the shell tool to get my container.
3D model of my container design
The bone saw fits inside the container which fits within the footprint
November 9 2023
After finishing our preliminary solid model designs, my sub-team partner and I compared our designs, took the advantages of each, and combined the two designs. I sketched the combination of the two designs, and then modelled it using Inventor.
This design was much simpler than my previous design. I, again, started with the container footprint and made a rectangular base. I then used 1 offset from plane and loft action to create the larger top, then the shell tool to create the container. Finally, I faced the front view, created and 2D sketch of a triangle, and extruded it along the length of the container to get the side ridges.
My combined design 3D model
Sketched combination of the two designs
I then sent the 3D model to my sub-team partner, who improved the design by incorporating a vertical tool slot and perforating holes throughout the container to allow steam to pass through. This allows steam to hit both sides of the bone saw rather than only one side if it were laid flat on its side.
The bone saw slides in vertically through the thin rectangular slit at the top.
We then evaluated the pros and cons of our final design compared to our previous designs based on our objectives to make sure that our final design was the best one.
Decision matrix of our designs, where higher total score is better
November 16 2023
Sub-team partner’s final design