SPIRI

An easier breathing experience for children

| Project: Individual

| Timeframe: 3 weeks

| Process: Concept, Shape study, CAID, 3D printing and graphics

Challenge

Most preschool children are unable to coordinate their breathing while using their inhaler. The pressure in the MDI aerosol mist is too strong and it makes it difficult to inhaling the medication particles. A spacer is used in other to distribute the medication evenly. The spacer is often unmanageable for children because of its size and that it needs to be attached to the inhaler.

Result

By adding extra space inside the actual inhaler, large non-respirable particles in the MDI aerosol mist can now deposit on the walls. This leaves only the smaller airborne respirable particles for inhalation. The child does not need to apply any special inhalation technique – just ordinary breathing and there is no need for a separate part to be carried around.

Scenario

| Story

This is Freja. She is preparing herself to go to her karate practice. Suddenly she feels an irritation in her throat and start to cough. Freja has asthma and uses an inhaler. She find it a bit difficult to inhale the medicine from the inhaler because of the strong air pressure. Her mom gives her a spacer to use that makes it easier for her to inhale. However the spacer is a bit clumsy to attach to the inhaler.

| Key sketches

When starting sketching I was looking for calm shapes with a playful expression.

Process

| CAID & Sketching

| Prototyping

It was very useful to 3D-print the parts because it gave a more precise impression of the dimensions and how the parts aligned together.

In the workshop I sprayed the parts and put them together so that I could get a feel for how the colors would appear on a real end product. I find great joy to be able to work with my hands and it is wonderful change from the digital process.