I-Corps: Commercialization Feasibility Research for a Rigid Support System

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力通过定制制造和快速原型设计的创新达到许多不同的筒仓，包括救灾，物流和个人防护设备。这个I-Corps项目正在探索一种方法的商业化可行性，这种方法可以通过刚性，适应性强的贴合系统来保护任何无定形形状。存在许多应用领域，其中形成刚性支撑系统的方法将是有用的和变革性的。例如，这种方法需要最少的非专业培训，并且不需要水或外部添加剂来催化从液体到固体的固化。如果这项研究的结果表明这项技术作为医疗设备有价值，它可能会改变骨折患者的治疗方式，在救灾地区如何照顾受害者，以及第三世界如何管理医疗。此外，在运输过程中保护易碎物品的现行标准是使用聚合物增强纸、塑料花生或空气膨化塑料片。无法识别形状的物体可以更有效地包装这种自适应技术。I-Corps的这个项目计划对一种用刚性的、适应性强的贴合系统保护任何无定形形状的方法进行商业化可行性研究。所提出的技术利用对制造技术的研究来开发一种用于在非晶形状周围定制形成刚性支撑结构的新方法。该方法由包含一种或多种液体的管道网络组成，使得外部刺激可以触发这些液体中的一种或多种转化为固体形式。这些管连接在一个网格结构中，允许它们膨胀和收缩，以适应一个无定形的形状。探索这种形成刚性结构的新方法可以推进定制制造和快速原型制造领域。该技术允许在现场快速创建定制零件，而无需任何外部工具。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project reaches many different silos, including disaster relief, logistics, and personal protective equipment, through innovations in custom manufacturing and rapid prototyping. This I-Corps project is exploring the commercialization feasibility for a method to protect any amorphous shape with a rigid, adaptable fit system. There are many application areas where a method to form a rigid support system would be useful and transformative. For example, this method requires minimal, non-professional training and no water or external additives to catalyze the cure from liquid to solid. If results of this study suggest that this technology has merit as a medical device, it could transform the way patients are treated for broken bones, how victims are cared for in disaster relief areas, and how medical treatment is administered in the third world. Additionally, the current standard for protecting fragile objects during shipping is with polymer-reinforced paper, plastic peanuts, or sheets of air-puffed plastic. Objects of unidentifiable shapes could be more efficiently packed with this adaptable-fit technology. This I-Corps project proposes to conduct commercialization feasibility research on a method for protecting any amorphous shape with a rigid, adaptable fit system. The proposed technology utilizes research in manufacturing techniques to develop a novel method for custom forming a rigid support structure around an amorphous shape. The method consists of a network of tubing that contains one or more liquids, such that an external stimulus may trigger the transformation of one or more of these liquids into solid form. The tubes connect in a lattice structure that allows them to expand and contract in order to fit to an amorphous shape. Exploring this new method of forming a rigid structure can advance the fields of custom manufacturing and rapid prototyping. The technology allows for rapid creation of a custom-fit part in the field, without any external tools.