Samuel Gaskin
FlowBar – The Modern Asthma Solution
Asthma is a condition that affects 5.4 million people in the UK and yet currently the medication on offer is plagued with numerous problems. The major issue comes from the inability to produce effective doses - research suggests that a potential 70-90% of asthmatics are using the wrong inhaler technique which can directly cause more asthma attacks, more hospital admissions, and more waste. Waste has become a more prominent issue with asthma medication, as current Metered Dose Inhalers (MDIs) are the cause of 3.9% of the NHS’s carbon footprint. The majority of this footprint is caused from the chemicals that are meant to be inhaled getting wasted due to poor technique. The final major problem is the current stigma that comes with current asthma medication. In a study done in 2016, 62% of patients felt that it was ‘embarrassing’ to use an inhaler in public - this further decreases the amount of medication successfully being admitted.
My solution to these problems has come in the form of the FlowBar. The FlowBar takes the two key players of asthma medication, that being the inhaler and the spacer, and combines them into a singular compact and efficient product. The spacer element of the product is vital as it allows the aerosolised particles to slow down making it easier for them to make their way to the lowest parts of the user’s airways. Asthmatics would generally avoid using spacers due to their bulky nature and inconvenience to carry around. The FlowBar addresses these problems by combining the spacer into the product as well as minimising the size of it to 100ml, the required amount for a spacer to be considered at high performance. The device also offers a much more sustainable solution as it is a longer lasting concept that could potentially be used for up to two years, in comparison, an asthmatic would generally go through eight MDIs in this time. In principle, the product works by sucking some of the infused gas from the medication through a filter and into the back casing component where it is held until the button is clicked. That then releases the pump which forces the gas back through the medication and into the metering chamber where it is released as aerosolised particles.
The FlowBar has several key features that really puts itself clear of other products on the market. The first being the angled mouthpiece, this innovative concept intuitively causes the user to raise their chin whilst in use which then opens the users’ airways allowing more medication to reach all the necessary locations. Another integral feature is the TEMISH filter, this is a porous membrane which allows the infused gases to pass through but not any medication. Another very important aspect of the product is the materials used, a specific Polypropylene Copolymer was used due to the material’s conductive properties. This is important as this reduces the number of electrostatic charges, these charges can attract the medication to the surfaces of the product and restrict the dosage supplied significantly. With these features and even more, I believe that the FlowBar successfully meets all three key objectives that were set at the beginning of the project and truly is ‘the Modern Asthma Solution’.
Samuel Gaskin's designs
Student Biography
Hello, I am a final year student on the Product Design and Manufacture course at the University of Nottingham. My journey towards this course was not as simple as always knowing I wanted to be a Product Designer, however, the further through the schooling system I got, the more attached I got to every aspect of Product Design. The whole idea around playing my part in designing and creating a product that can truly help someone is one that I just believe not many other professions/university degrees can offer.
Throughout my time at university, I believe that I have gained a broad range of skills that are all very transferrable to the professional design process. My personal favourite part of the process is when I take one of my ideas and begin to develop it on CAD and it becomes a more physical and interactive concept in front of my very eyes. This is just taken one step further when you first take over this model into the rendering software and you are almost treated with a gift, when you first see all your hard work in its desired final form.
I will now begin my journey in looking for a career in Product Design, in particular one where I feel as if I can offer as much of my skill set as possible. I want to be able to truly express myself in as many ways as I can and feel as if, as stated previously, I am truly helping someone with something that I have helped design.