CSU students patent infant incubator

FORT COLLINS – Four Colorado State
University seniors have turned their capstone design project into a
patented device that could save the lives of infants around the world.

The
mechanical engineering students – Phil Brox, Jeff Belval, Brett Raver
and Casey Dean – designed a medically equipped incubator backpack unit.
The team hopes that the device will reduce the occurrence of deaths for
babies in medical emergency situations through the incorporation of a
suspension system that will absorb shock during travel. Similar products
already on the market are less portable and more expensive to produce.

“The
backpack also can be strapped to a base that fits on a gurney, in an
ambulance or Flight-for-Life aircraft,” explained Sue James, CSU
mechanical engineering professor who served as faculty adviser for the
students, in a prepared statement.

The team hopes to see the
device deployed not only in the United States, but also in developing
countries where many births occur in homes rather than hospitals.

“We
want the device to be portable but include all the current standards
for newborn transportation systems – an electric heating system, air
circulation, an air controller, various alarms that monitor the baby’s
temperature, etc.,” Belval said. “Those are features currently included
in other products on the market.”

With a provisional patent
filed, the soon-to-graduate students have the option of either forming a
startup company to take the invention to market or licensing it to an
existing company through the Colorado State University Research
Foundation. They have also met with officials of the Global Social and
Sustainable Enterprise program in the university’s College of Business
to understand more about how to create a company.

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