Additive Manufacturing for Covid-19 Device and Challenges Assignment Sample

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• Subject Name : Engineering

Product Development Technologies in An Emerging Industry

Content

Abstract

Introduction

Methodology and project scope

Process of Manufacturing

Costing Overview

CAD Model and 2D Drafting

Conclusion

References

Abstract on Additive Manufacturing for Covid-19 Device and Challenges

The Dieses, which is called Corona Virus, has Cover the whole world and stop the supplies at the national and international levels[1,2]. After announcing the WHO this virus as a pandemic, many countries has closed the boundaries, and unfortunately, the supply chain has stopped. This virus has destroyed the supply chain of medical supplies as well as spare parts of the different medical machines globally[3,4]. This situation has a drastic effect on the medical situation in countries that are still dependent on other countries producing medical supplies. This usually is can be found in developing counties. As a result, much needed medical and non-medical supplies interrupted, and workers are working in hospitals are not getting Personal Protective Equipment. The parts of the ventilator cannot be supplied for the patient. The shortage of hand sensitizer and coronavirus kits has arisen. Some countries keep the stocks for their people and stop exporting to the other countries; because of these, the sacristy has developed globally, and the supply has been disrupted and increase the death rate in some countries.The additive manufacturing is versatile technology that can be used any application.This technologies play good role in the medical segment. In this tight situation the demand of respiratory system shortage arises,so additive manufacturing technologies play an excellent role for manufacturing valves.

Introduction to Additive Manufacturing for Covid-19 Device and Challenges

The 3D Printing companies come forward and take charge to fulfill the demand for the reasons mentioned above. Suppose the parts are not available in the market, and during this emergency, the hospitals can purchase the parts from this 3D Printing companies. The emergency parts that 3d Printer can generate is a face mask, respiratory valves, nasal swab[5], or some essential parts of the ventilator[6,10]. The experts are giving positive feedback for the 3D Printed parts. 3D Printing technologies are successively implemented beforehand the COVID-19 situation in the medical sector. Or instance making the preoperative models for medical, it is also producing Surgical implants of the whole body; some tools and templets are manufactured in additive manufacturing. The additive manufacturing's main advantages are it can be made at the mass scale, as per demand, any free form parts can be manufactured[11,12]. The modified parts can be easily manufactured; for example, patient-specific design can be made, The data is stored in the drives online and can be ordered easily. The complexity of the design does not issue for manufacturing the parts. Any shape can be manufactured irrespective of the design, so these are the potential advantages of the 3D printing. In google search, the result shows that in July 2020, the term Additive manufacturing or 3D Printing has increased significantly of 2.2 times in the same period of the last year.

So far, very few research pieces can be found on the internet related to the COVID-19 and 3D printing. The main area in which the research has been accomplished is the open-source Ventilator[11], PPE Kits [12], Ventilator parts [13], connectors for inhaling or breathing system [14], Respiratory system Pressure regulator spiting parts [15]. Figure 1 is showing the difference.

The valves, so-called venturi valves, are one of the main components in the respiratory machine. In this pandemic scenario, the shortage has arisen, so it cannot be reproduced. In some machines, this valve comes under the patent and copyright coverage[16]. So, in this crucial situation, some taking permission from the company is the tedious process Companies are only allowed to copy if there is an emergency scenario. Another method is ep strengthening the supply is t use a single ventilator for the multiple patients by using the Additive manufacturing.

Methodology and Project Scope

In this project development report, the inspiratory valve has been chosen for developments and how additive manufacturing helps develop this component's manufacturing development. This venturi meter device can effectively deliver the required amount of oxygen and air, which is mix at the throat portion of the nozzle.

The whole venturi meter valve is divided into the convergent portion, throttle, and divergent portions. The convergent portion of the diameter is continuously decreasing. This arrangement converts the velocity of the gases into high pressure. In the convergent portion, the oxygen is coming from the cylinder. The throat portion is attached next to the convergent portion. In this portion, the diameter of the throat remains the same full throat length. In this portion, the air is added into the oxygen, this is automatically added because of the pressure variation between the throat pressure and atmosphere tressure. After the mixture of oxygen and air is going into the third compartment of the venturi meter so-called divergent portion. The diameter is continuously increased in the case of the divergent part. In this divergent portion, the high pressure of the mixture is converted into high velocity. Commonly the divergent portion is found larger in length as compared to the throat and convergent portion. The cross-section of the venturi meter is showing in the above figure 2. [17]. By taking advantage of this phenomenon, this device is best suited for measuring the flow and controlling the flow of the mixture. At the last stage of the project development, the 3D model is submitted with a component drawing sheet.

The respiratory vales are made up of thermoplastic material like ABS, PP. The plastic components are manufacturing by the plastic processing methods like extrusion, blow moulding, compression moulding, and injection moulding process for many decades. From the batch size to the design of the product, suitable manufacturing methods can be utilized. The manufacturing method used for respiratory vales is injection moulding. In the moulding process, the inspiratory valves are manufactured in different components; after that, components are assembled and can be sent to the required places. The injection moulding procedure is the most versatile process for manufacturing different medical parts. In the medical application, the dimensional tolerance, quality, cost-effectiveness, strength, and life of the parts play an important role. At that time, this manufacturing process is the most suitable technique.

Process of Manufacturing

The process of manufacturing of this additive manufacturing of any component is so simple. The only requirement is to make 3D Cad Model. This CAD model is than convert into the Stereolithographic format so called STL format. Then after this model is inserted into the machine software at which process parameter must be set like layer thickness, nozzle speed, building chamber temperature, and Part orientation. Now at the end as this parameter, the software slices the model and fed in the machine. Then after machine start working its operation and we get the product. In some process Post treatment is also required like removing the support material. After removing this support material, it is use in the real application.

The major disadvantages of injection moulding are the design criteria. Sometimes the product is very intricate in design so it is impossible to manufacture in the single component. In this situation, the component is made up of the two or may pieces than the assembled to be done for the application. The second disadvantage is the thickness of the part the ,in some medical applications, the thickness of parts is very low or minimum at that time; injection moulding can not be used because of shrinkage, which is the inherent properties of the injection moulding process. The third disadvantage is the flash. The flash is produced because of the gap between the two halves of the mould. This defect is occasionally found in the moulding process. Suppose flash is present then, it is an additional cost for the manufacturer. The fourth and final disadvantage is the initial cost of the manufacturing of the mould is high. This process is only suitable for production in millions of parts.

Nowadays, 3D Printing technologies are the most emerging technologies in the market of the manufacturing process. The productivity by the usage of this technology is high. The best quality parts can be produced. Most intricate parts can be produced by this method. The part can be made in a single unit. The strength of the component is the same as the conventional manufacturing process. We can directly place the parts in real-life applications. There is no mould, and any dies required to manufacture the parts. By only the design of the part, the part can be fabricated. In the medical application, the parts are not needed in millions. So the additive manufacturing process can be used. During this COVID 19 Situation, the manufacturing companies are not able to produce and export the parts. So in this emergency situation, the 3D-Printers are the best tool for manufacturing the component. This technology is producing the ready to serve part for the emergency situation. There are many technologies are available in the market for 3D printing. But the most usable method use for producing parts are Fused Deposition Modeling so-called FDM and Selective Laser Sintering so-called SLS. FDM Technologies are the most productive and quality parts of manufacturing technology. There is no additional setting required to produce the component.

In a conventional way the inspiratory valves come under Two segments and then after it is assembled and can be used for the ventilator purpose. But by using the additive manufacturing process, the valve can be made in one component. These features of any complex design can be easily manufactured by these technologies.

In the conventional method for different valves size, different core and cavity is used, and it is a very costly and time-consuming process. Whereas in the additive manufacturing, there is not any extra setting is required for different size of the valves. Even a variety of valves can be manufactured in the same setting or same time. There is no any extra attachment is required for that. So, these are the reasons why additive manufacturing is very useful for the severe coronavirus situation.

Nevertheless, additive manufacturing has a dark side too. This process can not be used extensively for the medical industries. This process might be harmful to humans, but the in-depth study has not done yet. There are many flaws in using these technologies to use for the product development which is listed under.

This process is consuming more power. The research done by Loughborough University found that the 3D Printers consume 60 to 105 times power if it is compared with the conventional injection moulding process. Most power is required to melt the plastic by heat or laser technologies. The well-known research group so-called The Environmentally Benign Developed did a study in 2009 in the laser sintering process and its effect on the environment. They had found that the laser sintering process consumes 60 times higher power if it is compared with the traditional moulding machines. So, if we use these technologies for mass production, then it would be costlier to use; therefore, the additive manufacturing process can be used for small batch production. We can not reduce the power consumption, but at the same time, if we produce many no pieces, then the power consumption of these technologies can be effectively retarded.

Costing Overview

The initial cost for the purchase of machine tools is very high. The industries grade machine is very costly to purchase. The price is around several hundred thousand dollars, So the initial coast is very high. Even the raw material used in the 3D Printers is also high if compared with the traditional machine material. So, the single component's cost is very low if we produce a single component by traditional method than the cost is very high. Because we must make molds and other tools for the manufacturing this component. So traditional methods are only applicable for mass production, but very few no of the pieces are efficiently manufactured in the additive manufacturing process.

Figure 4 shows the cost comparison of different parts which used for medical application. The cost includes machine, material, labor sterilization, Overhead and Consumable cost.

In the figure 4 gives the overviews of the same part is produced in the different machine as per their part producing capacity. From the graph we can see that as no of part in the production increases the cost required for every process is decrease. Every process includes the cost of machine and maintenance , cost of labor, cost of material, cost of sterilization , cost of overhead,and consumable. Overall cost of labor and cost of material is high and present in every machines. 

Still, this Additive manufacturing in the development phase, so we are not getting any material that is used in the plastic. If you can speak about the plastic properties, then it should be easily melted and form the desired shape. Sometimes we can able to produce the part of the same material. But these parts have not had the same properties if the parameter has not been chosen carefully. So we can called that this process in under development process soon we will get new material in upcoming years. Much new material is made every day. Because the scientist and engineers are giving more attention as to the medical sector, because this file has a very vast application, once the scientist got the idea regarding the material, it will be easily manufactured the material or reel.

In 2013 Illinois Institute of Technology and group has done research on additive manufacturing. They have done the research and found that the 3DPRinters produce carcinogenic subdivisions, which is very harmful to operate. So this is the reason why it is only operated in the close chamber room. The research also mentioned that these 3D Printers are producing a large amount of the ultrafine particle; this particle is volatile in nature. If someone inhales these particles the, it is very hazardous for them. The printers are producing 20 billion ultra-fine particles per minute, which is very harmful. ABS Material is producing 100 Ultra billion particles per minute if someone is inhaling this particle. Then it might create the problem of the lungs. In laser sintering process is also very hazardous because the size of the powder is micron. If the operator inhales the particle by accident, it will significantly affect the human's health. So the human mask should be mandatory while operating the machine, and PPE kits are provided to the operator to work in this hazardous atmosphere. If the proper safety is taken place at the workplace than the, it can be eliminated. 

3D Printers are very slow in operation[20]. This condition is very from Printer to Printer. Some printers are producing components fast, and some are producing at very low speed. But the, if this speed compares with the conventional process for producing parts in mass production, the time consumption is very low in seconds and 3D printing takes time for several hours to produce. Some parts can take up to several days. So, this technology is only useful for producing or developing some products. At that time, these technologies are more reliable. But 3D Printing can produce several design products at the same time. By choosing various parameter, this time should be effectively retarded for producing any component. For example, If there is a parameter like part orientation. Suppose one component is taking too much time if produced in the vertical position .If the operator produces the same part in horizontal orientation than time can be significantly reduced. So this parameter should be chosen wisely. 

The various parameter is available to set the strength of the part[19]. The whole process is fully dependent on the procedure parameters like hatch space, part orientations, and building chamber temperature. So these technologies are more fully dependent on these parameters. If the operator is not select the proper parameter, then the strength and dimensional quality is not as good as desired.

Sometimes the copyright and patent covered can be easily produced by using technologies[20]. This increases the rate of crime in the market. By using these technologies, people can easily copy the other vendor project. This situation improves lousy practices in the market. Even people cannot track where it has been producing and done reverse engineering has done. So, the patent can be copied at the international level. This problem could be solved by giving the license for the production of parts than this type of activity can be stopped effectively.

The knowledge is very less in the medical sector[20]. People do not fully understand the usage of 3D printing in the fields of the medical sector. The lack of knowledge can also be a possible reason that this technology has not been fully implemented in a few countries. The government is not giving proper attention to the capabilities of the 3D printing. Lack of knowledge is the biggest hurdle in the development in the field of medicine. Medical is one of the fields in which this process can give the best result. In this field, we can take the benefits of the technologies.

Conclusion on Additive Manufacturing for Covid-19 Device and Challenges

The corona has literally put the world in the lockdown position. This situation is very crucial for other countries who totally rely on the other country for medical devices. In this situation the world is producing the devices at their own. Additive manufacturing had played important situation in this difficult situation. These technologies are producing ready to use material for medical services. Many components have been produced by using this technology. The respiratory valve which is important part of the ventilator system. In this pandemic situation every country is facing the shortage for this valve. In the emergency companies will not be able to produce this component in the short duration. In this situation the additive manufacturing has produced component. So, we can say that this technology has given many lives to other people. No doubt this technology is not developed fully yet. But the research is going on and soon many new components can be found in the medical sector.

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