Laboratory Equipment Design

Client

Mast Group

Brief

For 15 years, the client had enjoyed success in rapid urine screening with its Elite product. The company sensed it was time to develop a faster, more compact unit.

Solutions

Mast wanted to reinvent the product, introducing new functionality, and at the same time make it more cost effective. Furthermore, the speed of sample processing had to be increased. Urine screening is a very common medical practice and there is huge demand from hospitals, clinics and laboratories for equipment that can deliver fast, accurate processing times.

4D Products presented Mast with 10-15 concepts before one design was selected to take forward. The team then performed a feasibility study on the unit’s mechanical engineering and started work on 3D CAD drawings before producing a small number of rapid prototypes.

For reasons of hygiene, the Uri-Plus product needed smooth wipe-clean surfaces free from any trapping points such as grooves or recesses. The final design is a single piece casing with a smooth, curved exterior devoid of any visible split lines.

4D director James Bell comments “We had a meeting with RIM casting specialists Midas to review the CAD drawing from a mouldability perspective. This is a fairly large and complex product so having the RIM moulding expertise of Midas involved at this stage of the project was vital to its success. For instance, there are air vents at the top which were quite complex to create and necessitated the inclusion of moving parts in the tool – so it wasn’t straightforward by any means, however Midas required no design changes to suit their process when we first submitted our file.”

The result

“Having previously worked with 4D on earlier projects, they were tasked with designing a cost effective, visually appealing, robust and reliable screening instrument. We are delighted with the end result and have had very positive feedback from our customers ”

Howard Rose, MD – Mast Group

Recognition

Runner up in 2 categories, North West Bionow awards 2010. Featured at Medica 2010, Düsseldorf.

Press

Develop 3D magazine, January 2011. Plastics and Moulding Magazine.

Skills

Concept design, Industrial design, 3D CAD design, Rapid prototyping, Supply of manufacturing data & engineering drawings, Manufacturing support & liaison.