Portable Caster Cleaning Device
Problem statement
Research requires an enormous investment of both time and money; this is especially true in the medical industry as all the work needs to be precisely monitored and documented to ensure that it follows the numerous guidelines and regulations required. Now imagine that the countless time and money spent on research, sometimes around $31-68 million [2], was suddenly invalidated because the clean rooms that house the experiments were contaminated from the casters on a cart. This is a problem that has very serious ramifications if mishandled, which can occur due to the simplicity yet difficulty of a solution. There are two prevailing ways that this problem is currently handled. The first solution is to empty the cart, invert it and manually clean the casters. This method takes a considerable amount of time and does not guarantee that the casters will be free from all levels of contamination. The second method is an industrial cleaner that involves pushing the cart up an inclined ramp and depositing two casters in a trough where they are rotated and cleaned abrasively. While this method is fast and effective, it is also very costly and requires around 5.17 sq meters of dedicated floor space [1]. For this project we hope to develop a new solution to this problem that will achieve the same level of sanitation as the industrial solutions while also being light and mobile. We hope that by providing a smaller, cheaper and portable solution that does not sacrifice cleaning effectiveness, we can help smaller research companies meet cleanroom standards without needing the space or budget for the current industrial methods.
Team members
Davin Ballweg – leader
Anthony Krotiak – communicator
Nathan Normann – accountant
Griffin Zacharias – admin
David Michaelson
Client
Bill Kreamer, Waisman Biomanufacturing