FOUR Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) engineering students are making nebuliser spacers using 3D-printed parts and plastic bottles to support the medical frontliners in their fight against Covid-19.
Lim Kai Wen, who founded Kon10Innovation, the start-up enterprise that creates the spacer (an external device attached to a nebuliser for better drug delivery), said together with his team they came to know about the need for the item at hospitals and wanted to use their time to help out.
“Due to shortage, some hospitals are using bottles with cut ends as a temporary alternative. So we wanted to help out by contributing our time and creativity.
“We created the spacer using 3D-printed parts that included a 0.2mm film and a bottle bought from a local mart,” he said.
“Some industries have sponsored fabrication of moulds to accommodate plastic injection by using polycarbonate.
“We can produce between 6,000 and 8,000 units for nationwide distribution,” he said.
Kai Wen’s team includes students Lim Tyng Xian, Sin Chia Ling and Ooi Hsin Yein from the Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science.
Apart from the spacer, Kai Wen said they also made 3D-printed face shields.
He said they came up with a face shield with simpler designs to allow for shorter printing time.
“It was a challenge to create a simple design to reduce production time.
“We made alterations to meet users’ feedback while taking into account comfort and safety,” he said, adding that the team could make about 150 shields a day.
“These shields have been distributed to health clinics, Hospital Kuala Kubu Baru, and Manipal Hospital in Klang among others.“We also plan to implement plastic injection in the design of our face shield to increase production per day,” he added.
Kai Wen said Malaysians should think out of the box and use any kind of knowledge they may have to help out in the current situation.
“We believe that technologies such as 3D printing and open-source programming are easily accessible by society, so we should use these to provide more ideas and solutions,” he said.