Application of rapid tooling to manufacture customized nasal mask cushion for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices

Abstract

Purpose

A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device is one of the main treatments for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. Most patients treated by this method complain about the comfortableness of the mask, but the commercial mask cushions are only available in fixed sizes. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to apply the rapid tooling (RT) technique to manufacture customized nasal mask cushions, to increase the performance and with price competitiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

The patient's face was first duplicated twice by Hygrogum and plaster. The face model, on which the cushion CAD design was based, was digitized by the reverse‐engineering technology. The RT of the cushion was then designed and manufactured by two rapid prototyping techniques – Objet's PolyJet and shape deposition manufacturing (SDM). Finally, silicone was cast into the RT to obtain customized cushions. The customized cushion was compared with two other commercial cushions through fit testing and cost estimation.

Findings

The proposed approach can successfully manufacture customized cushions within a day. The SDM process has advantages in this application over Objet's system. The fit testing showed that the fit factor of the customized cushion was better and less loading was required, which should lead to great improvement in the patient's comfort. Moreover, the price‐to‐performance ratio of the customized cushion can be lower than the commercial ones if more than three cushions were made by a single rapid tool.

Originality/value

This paper has proposed a new application of RT on customized nasal mask cushions for CPAP devices. The customized cushion has lower price‐to‐performance ratio and the cost remains competitive.

Citation

Cheng, Y. and Chu, J. (2013), "Application of rapid tooling to manufacture customized nasal mask cushion for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 4-10. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552541311292673