General Card #3483
Incorporation of a Multi-disciplinary Manufacturing Project Experience in Biomedical Engineering
Summary
Incorporation of a multi-disciplinary manufacturing project experience in biomedical engineering to design and manufacture plastic injection molded parts.
Description
The production of durable and reliable medical components and devices using medical-grade plastic materials is subjected to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. Biomedical engineering graduates should have a solid foundation in injection molding basics and the ability to analyze and simulate parts designed for injection molding. Unfortunately, not many biomedical engineering students possess these skills as only a few of them would take courses such as Design for Manufacturing (DfM) that prepare them for the injection molding industry. Throughout this project, students are trained on the entire product development process for injection molding utilizing the Entreprenurial Mindset (EM) framework. This includes conceptual design of medical tools, 3D modeling and 2D engineering drawing development, Moldflow simulation, tooling design, molding machine setup, and model optimization. By the end of the project, students demonstrated a wide range of knowledge and skills by performing a chocolate injection lab.
Curiosity
- Demonstrate constant curiosity about our changing world
This project helped students be curious about how medical-grade plastic parts are engineered and manufactured. It allowed them to think outside the box and gain the skills required to design and manufacture an injection-molded medical tool.
Connections
- Integrate information from many sources to gain insight
Students had to integrate information from the lecture related to injection molding physics. They also had to integrate their knowledge and skills in SolidWorks and build new skills using MoldFlow Adviser to simulate the engineered part and then make the necessary changes in SolidWorks to optimize the part performance.
- Assess and manage risk
Students gained knowledge related to minimizing risk and reducing costs associated with machining molds for injection molding by 3D printing a mock-up mold and simulating its moldability using MoldFlow Adviser.
Creating Value
- Persist through and learn from failure
Students noticed that engineering design is an iterative process. This project gave students the opportunity to design, analyze, verify, redesign, and validate. Their SolidWorks models had to be changed a few times based on the MoldFlow simulation results before they were able to machine them for injection molding.
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