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Vinayak Syam
London, United Kingdom
Seretide DPI Inhaler
A Dry powder Inhaler (DPI) solution that is positioned to be an economical and sustainable option for vulnerable asthmatic patient's across the globe.
Understanding the Life cycle of Accuhaler.
Functional Unit
the functional unit of this product is to deliver 1 dose ,two times a day for 30 days.
Life Expectancy
According to secondary research, the exact lifespan of the seretide diskus Inhaler previously possessed by all respondents was 30 days.
The Accuhaler was dismantled into its constituent components . The materials were identified with the support of Brunel's technician personnel and the Stanmech Plastics Identification Flow Chart (STANMECH Technologies Inc., 2015).
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83%
Energy
73%
Co2 Footprint
Manufacturing
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Use
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System Boundary
According to the streamline LCA, the materials have the greatest influence, accounting for 83% of total energy usage and 73% per cent of total CO2 footprint. The ABS material consumes the most energy, especially for the outside SHELL’S of the inhaler.
Components
The demo product had a few parts that are different in material than the real retail ones but during the LCA audit those were accounted to be in align to the retail product.
Redesign Priorities
High
Medium
Low
The ranking of redesign priorities was guided by the findings from the LCA and the data gathered from the qualitative study. Priorities that have been classified as being of "High","Medium" and "Low" relevance will be the focus of the redesign. The priorities are depicted in the radar graphic below, which was from the Ecodesign strategy wheel.
Dissassembly
The qualitative analysis found that there are obstruction to disasmbly, which is prohibiting the user from reusing and recycling the material.Hence the whole product goes to the waste stream after the depletion of Doses.
Even though the product is not meant to be disassembled there product is lacking modularity.
Reduced Behaviour Impact
The Eco audit shows that the use stage have zero impact on energy consumption and Co2 emissions since, the Inhaler is manually powered and doses are delivered in powder form..
However, after doing a qualitative investigation, we discovered that the inhaler has a very shaky PUI touchpoint, which causes users to inadvertently release doses from the inhaler.
Reduced Material Impact
According to the Eco audit, the material stage accounts for 83% of the seretide diskus Inhaler's overall energy use and 73% of its CO2 emissions, making it the stage with the biggest environmental impact.
Trough the qualitative analysis it is also found that the product have a Bulky ABS housing with a convoluting internal mechanisims with multpile moving parts.
Manufacturing Innovation
The manufacturing stage had a modest environmental impact, according to the LCA, contributing just 16% of the total energy use and 25.7% of the CO2 footprint.
Since the product is useless once the doses have been consumed, the qualitative study showed that it will contribute more to the waste stream.
Reduced Distribution Impact
According to the eco audit, only the transportation step contributed.6% in terms of energy use and 1% in terms of CO2 emissions. Since the product is produced in areas that are closer to the global market that is being targeted.
The seretide diskus Inhaler is packed in a close to the product size packaging for retail.
Optimised end of life
LCA stated that the impact on the enviornment during the disposal stage to be around 0.2% for energy and 0.4% of Co2 emissions.
Transitional Systems
Although at the LCA disposal stage, there was evidence of little environmental impact. The NHS suggests discarding DPI inhalers after checking for unused doses because the item is a medical equipment. But this approach is challenging due to the lack of modularity.
Product Longevity
The qualitative analysis prove that the Inhaler is highly affected by the Shorter product life and premature Obscelsence. since the product is supposed to be replaced entirely after the the dosage exhaustion.
But qualitative analysis shows the product is obsolete after the release of 60 doses Hence the at the end of life the product is enetring multiple times in to the waste stream.
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The Process.
Priorities with the designations "High" and "Medium" importance served as the foundation for the redesign of the Sertide diskus Inhaler. Each design's benefits and drawbacks are categorized as having a "high", "intermediate," or "low" impact. To ascertain how each of these categories will be impacted, redesigned priority rankings, literature evaluations, survey data, and the authors' own judgement were all employed.
Optimized for Sustainability.
The major goal was to develop a DPI Inhaler with a straightforward, industrial design form. The primary goal of the LCA and qualitative study of the original Sertide diskus Inhaler was to lower the energy consumption in the Re manufacturing process,and the environmental effects because of the premature obscelence.
A novel compliant capsule breaking mechanism was developed to reduce the number of parts while completing the work flawlessly.
Theoretically, this redesigned DPI Inhaler can not only significantly reduce environmental impact during manufacturing stage stage, but the service system created to support the product will also reduce energy consumption in the manufacturing stage, make it easier to extend the product's lifespan.
Reduced Material Impact
The material of the outer shell is switched from ABS to PPcopolymer since the product is much lighter than ABS while having the same chemical and stucutral advantagous to a limit .Also the PP copolymer material are approved to be used in medical devices.
Product Longevity
A DPI inhaler that has the ability to refill powder doses because they are kept in size 3 capsules that may be used and replensied as needed.The Accuinhaler-2 can hold up to 10 Doses at a time as 15 capsules.
Use & Behavior Impact
The Visual Nudge is positioned at the end of the sliding part to remind the user to dispose of the used capsule shells. This helps in acquiring the desired behavior and user impact through the confirmation step before taking actual action.
Material
Manufacturing
Use
Disposal
EOL Potential
Redesign
LCA results.
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A new life cycle assesmnet were done for the VAYU-2 using the Level-2 database ofthe Granta software. From the LCA result it is clear that the redesign has made much better reductions in energy consumption and Co2 emissions especially in the manufacturing phase.
Due to its end-of-life potential and an increase in energy recovery, the revised design has a noticeably more favorable long-term impact on the environment. This is because the product longevity is multiplied because the device is 100% reusable after replenishing the dose capsules.
Relative contribution to Life phase.
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