| GlobalGoodFund is BillGates' partner in developing humanitarian impact technologies in partnership with IntellectualVentures (IV), a global invention firm that has recently turned to Carbon and its CLIP technology to try out affordable diagnostic devices for tuberculosis (TB) use. 'Technology is our closest magic in the real world, and GlobalGoodFund uses its creative magic to change the lives of those most in need - the billion people struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder,' said Nathan Myhrvold, inventor and CEO of IntellectualVentures "We're always looking for ways to bring our ideas to market faster and at a lower cost. Carbon is helping us do that." According to the 2016 Global Tuberculosis Report released by the World Health Organization (WHO), 10 million people worldwide are infected with TB in 2015, 41% of whom are undiagnosed - meaning untreated. Most of these people live in developing countries , The report shows that lack of diagnosis is a key gap in the fight against tuberculosis, which is why GlobalGood is developing early TB diagnostic equipment for countries without a high-quality healthcare infrastructure. The goal of scientists at GlobalGood and IVLab is to develop an accurate method of disease diagnosis that is cheaper, easier to use, and faster to work with than traditional diagnostic methods. The team has gained new insights from lateral analysis tests Product design inspiration, these tests already exist in early pregnancy testing and malaria diagnostic equipment.  The design of the TB test requires the collection of urine instead of sputum to detect TB biomarkers and the placement of sidestream strips with detection reagents in a thin plastic case. IV for 3D printing technology It is no stranger to use the FFF method to prototype prototypes of its invention, such as TB diagnostic equipment, and then to short-term injection molding of the final part, but the traditional prototyping method takes too much time when it comes to the TB box.According to Carbon Said that the cost of iterating for each long injection mold was about $ 25,000 and in five months the IVLab team completed only a few iterations with mold failures and delays associated with modifying the mold and this was also the cost The reason is high, but this is not the best solution for the goal of designing cost-effective products. To do this, the IVLab team looked for a more efficient way to manufacture the device, turning its attention to Carbon and DLS-driven M-Series 3D printer The company's industry 3D printing Machine and powerful software helped IVLab develop diagnostics and print the first cassette design 3D in less than a week. IVLab also capitalized on Carbon's end-to-end digital manufacturing process using Carbon's rigidity Polyurethane (RPU70) material completed 10 product design iterations, and took up only half the time of the traditional method. Thanks to Carbon's flexible on-demand manufacturing, IVLab does not limit the minimum order quantity of parts, which to a certain extent reduces material waste while eliminating the need for parts inventory maintenance.The team is able to use the same parts throughout its product development lifecycle Materials and 3D printers, from iteration and functional verification to fabrication of the final part. According to Carbon's case study, 'Traditional manufacturing requires different materials and different technologies at each stage, which results in reduced flexibility, longer lead times, and less operational efficiency. With Carbon's technology, IVLab can significantly reduce end product costs While increasing the efficiency of product design iterations two to three times.Cost reduction is a remarkable achievement for IVLab and fulfills its mission of creating low cost solutions for developing countries. Working with Carbon to transform slowly inefficient traditional manufacturing into 3D printing, the IVLab team and GlobalGood successfully test more than 1,000 3D printed tuberculosis diagnostic tests in the field, and they have achieved the goal of developing low-cost, easy-to-use products that Tuberculosis can be quickly diagnosed, which is helpful for people in developing countries to diagnose tuberculosis. |
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