Diabetic Insulin Pen for Parkinsons Patients
BME 673 (Advanced Design and Manufacturing): January 2023 - May 2023
This project was one of two main projects I worked on as a part of the BME 673 design course. The focus was to design an insulin pen that would make it easier to aim and inject insulin for Parkinsons patients, as well as reduce risk of laceration due to tremors during injection.
The Problem
Parkinsons patients often experience movement disorders such as tremors, stiffness, lack of strength, etc. This can make it difficult to use insulin pens as tremors may make it difficult to aim the pen and may result in lacerations during injection.
Sketches
Below are some of the sketches I made in brainstorming my design solution. Initially I was focused on the grip of the pen. But, later I decided to not constrain myself to the original pen shape and play around with the form factor as well as adding a feature to make it easier to aim and stabilize the insulin syringe.
Final 3rd-angle projection Sketch
Manufacture and Safety Design Considerations
I constructed my insulin device design in fusion360. I decided the device would theoretically be injection molded, so I conducted a draft analysis of the parts to make sure this was possible. In addition, I conducted Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to simulate safety in situations I thought would be common during device use.
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CAD Design
Safety Factor Simulation
Draft Angle Analysis of Left Body
Stress Simulation
Device Visualizations & LBM
Below are external and internal renders of the final insulin device design. I photoshopped the device to give a visual demonstration of what it would look like in a patient's hand. I made a rough estimate of the cost through Labor, Burden, Material analysis. I also made some simple animations of my device as well as a video describing my device and the steps I took to reach it.
LBM Analysis
Final Video
Turntable Animation