As we began the design process and started hammering out concrete design parameters, we eventually settled on three initial designs. Each reflects many different aspects of the competition, from given constraints to what we saw as necessary for the livelihood of the patient. Of the designs below, none of them made it into our final prototype as a whole; we were able to take the best aspects of each and combine them into our final device, creating what we believe is the best solution to the given problem.
For our first idea, we were not sure how to put all of the functions that the device needed to perform into a pill cap. This machine, appropriately dubbed "the espresso machine" would sit on a countertop, be incredibly easy to load with one or multiple pill types, and would be able to pull power form the wall to perform functions. With this much space, we would not have had a problem holding all the components, but its bulk was about as far from a cap as possible.
The cutting mechanism works by taking a pill from the well, securing it tightly in a small area, and then rotating around, meshing with a separate wheel with a blade to cut the pill.
The espresso machine was a great start, but we had a long way to go, especially in the size part of the design. We wanted to make sure that our customers could carry their medication dispenser with them discreetly, and not have to always worry about being home at the right time to take their meds. We ripped this idea apart and came up with our next design, making some concessions and trying to fix the problems that we had foreseen.
In this one ("the cassette player"), we shrunk the entire device - it is still not a pill cap, but it is starting to approximate something portable. The basic idea is that the user will load a small, disposable cassette with pills of a specific type. This cassette will have holes for multiple days worth of an average medication regimen for that particular pill and will fit securely in the device. The dispenser itself will have a very easy interface to navigate with a large LCD screen to display all the relevant information to the user. Also, as in the first idea, the user will not be using any force to cut the pill - this will all be done mechanically so that anyone with a loss of dexterity or strength in their hands will be able to easily operate the device. Cutting on this device is also a little bit different from before.
Here, the device does not so much cut as utilize a three point bending system to break the pill in half. A major concern of these devices is knowing when a pill should be cut. Most pills are not designed to be cut, and almost every pharmacist recommends never cutting pills unless specifically directed by a physician. This second idea would include programming that would only cut a pill if specifically directed to.
However, we still were not satisfied with our design and we felt that, among other things, loading the device should be much easier, and the size should be even smaller if we could shrink it.
This last preliminary idea is finally a type of pill cap, though significantly larger than any regular cap on a bottle of the same size. This last idea really tried to combine a lot of the good solutions that previous designs had into a sleeker package. From the simple interface with LCD screen right on the device to the easy attachment of a whole pill bottle to eliminate the need for constant refills, this idea seemed to be a great direction. It was discreet, portable, and included a lot of features (like a vibrating alarm) that would be a comfort to the user. The separate base station would act as a charger and data hub in one, charging the device about once a week and uploading relevant medication information to a pharmacist or physician. Cutting was accomplished by a rotational motion, much like grinding pepper for a salad.
All of these ideas addressed specific constraints and helped draw us towards our final prototype design. Problems that we foresaw with each above idea were considered, and eventually we were able to cram in just about everything we wanted into the device.
Device Testing
During mechanical testing and prototyping, Duane Reade-brand non-coated acetaminophen caplets were used to provide a basis for a typically sized and shaped pill that a user might encounter in a prescription drug regimen. In order to determine the optimal param-eters for cutting test pills, curved, angled, and straight steel razor blades were mounted on an Instron mechanical testing device, which was then programmed to traverse the iQueue's cutting block at different speeds. From the data shown at left, it is clear that an angled blade traversing the cutting block in 3.0 seconds proved most effective, cleanly cutting the pill with 28N of force. These data were used to develop the parameters for driving the iQueue's motor.
