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

这个i-Corps项目的广泛影响/商业潜力通过定制制造和快速原型制造的创新，覆盖了许多不同的筒仓，包括救灾、物流和个人防护装备。这个i-Corps项目正在探索一种方法的商业化可行性，这种方法可以用一种刚性的、适应性强的FIT系统来保护任何无定形的形状。在许多应用领域，形成刚性支撑系统的方法将是有用和具有变革性的。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，这项技术作为一种医疗设备是有价值的，它可能会改变患者骨折的治疗方式，灾民在救灾地区得到照顾的方式，以及第三世界的医疗管理方式。此外，目前在运输过程中保护易碎物品的标准是使用聚合物增强纸、塑料花生或充气塑料片。使用这种自适应适配技术，无法识别形状的物体可以更有效地包装。这个i-Corps项目建议对一种方法进行商业化可行性研究，以保护任何无定形形状的刚性、适应性较强的贴合系统。所提出的技术利用制造技术的研究来开发一种新的方法，以定制形成围绕无定形形状的刚性支撑结构。该方法由含有一种或多种液体的管子网络组成，从而外部刺激可触发一种或多种这些液体转变为固体形式。这些管子以格子结构连接，允许它们膨胀和收缩，以适应无定形的形状。探索这种形成刚性结构的新方法可以促进定制制造和快速原型制造领域的发展。这项技术允许在现场快速创建定制零件，而不需要任何外部工具。

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.