Development and Design of an Accessory for the Carevo Shower Trolley

Abstract: This report is the result of a Master Thesis project in Mechanical Engineering with Industrial Design at the Faculty of Engineering LTH at Lund University. The project was conducted in collaboration with ArjoHuntleigh AB, a company based in Malmö, Sweden. ArjoHuntleigh develops integrated healthcare solutions for people with low mobility and thereto related problems. The report describes the development and design of an accessory for the Carevo shower trolley, a newly launched product in the ArjoHuntleigh product line of hygiene systems. The accessory is intended to facilitate handling of loose objects involved in the showering process using the Carevo. In order to obtain valuable knowledge about the healthcare business and identify the relevant needs of the Carevo users, research was conducted. The research involved a pre-study, observation and contextual interviews with the caregivers in their environments and interviews with sales representatives of ArjoHuntleigh in foreign countries. Based on the identified needs, a range of product concepts were generated. Using sketch prototypes the concepts were tested and refined until only one concept was chosen. The final concept is a holder mainly intended for facilitating the handling of bottles used in the shower process using Carevo. The holder can be attached to different parts of the Carevo, depending on the requirements of the user. When not used, it can be stored on a flat surface, e.g. in a cabinet or on a sink. A prototype of the final concept was produced and tested in order to evaluate how well the concept meets the needs of the target users. Suggestions for further improvements to the concept are provided, as well as brief discussions about producibility and material choice.