Patient Transfer Board

Create a reliable, functional, and unique patient transfer board and custom manufacture the material used for it. This board is used to assist health professionals/caregivers in transferring patients from one surface to another. There was a range of technical uncertainties associated with this project that included the optimal combination of materials to meet the requirements, how to achieve the ASTM D1894 specification of less than .3, determining the best method to form the materials around existing patents, optimal designs, and how to achieve coating specifications. In order to accomplish these requirements, TPI engaged in a systematic experimentation approach to test the various prototypes, designs, and manufacturing processes to develop an optimal patient transfer board that exceeded the client’s expectations.  

We achieved the technical requirements by developing multiple material combinations using various deniers, coatings, and lab dip samples (between the inner and outer covers) to determine the best performance. Our team of experts experimented with the cutting direction due to material slip and fabric types. Fabrication/weld settings were altered and experimented with based on different material types, bar sizes, number of weld hits, pull strengths, and seal times. Additionally, silkscreen inks had to be adjusted to match the materials being tested. Customer requirements were exceeded by .13 of the goal, exceeding their result expectations. This resulted in TPI generating several prototypes while modifying them to achieve a better rating.