Nyano Nani: Infant Radiator
In the Fall of 2024 I took the class 2.729: D-Lab Design for Scale. As part of this class, I was put into a group with 2 other students and assigned to work on a project with a company based in a low-resource environment. My team was partnered with the National Innovation Centre in Nepal, working to improve their design for a low-cost infant radiator.
Project Background
Infants are most vulnerable in the first 28 days of life, the neonatal period. There are 35 neonatal deaths every day in Nepal, and between 63 and 85% of newborns develop hypothermia. In Nepal, rural healthcare facilities often use outdated and unmaintained equipment to keep babies warm, like electric heaters, filament bulbs, and burning coal, which pose significant health risks for newborns.
The National Innovation Centre, a non-profit organization in Kathmandu, Nepal, created Nyano Nani, a low-cost infant radiant warmer (nicknamed ‘baby warmer’) to serve the low-resource communities in Nepal. At the start of this project, NIC had deployed more than 90 units of the first version (V1) of its baby warmer to health posts and primary health centers across more than 45 districts of Nepal thanks to crowdfunding and government funding. Health posts represent 54.9% of birth rates, while primary health centers represent 2.9%; their next target customers are private health facilities and hospitals, which represent 29.9% and 1.8% of births, respectively.
Project Scope
V1 had a list of problems, but we narrowed our scope to focus on two specifically: the usability and durability of the side panels. The knob system to move the panels out of the way required the nurse to unscrew two knobs for the panel to slide down. The system was deemed as “cumbersome” by existing users and the panels broke too often because of the unintuitive design. NIC collaborated with a student team from Delft University of Technology on a general redesign of the baby warmer, including the side panels mechanism. The new mechanism requires the user to lift the panel to allow for 180º rotation. This was achieved by creating a corner part for each corner of the bassinet frame, adding clips to the panels that go into the corner parts, redesigning the laser cutting paths for the panels to make space for the clips, and designing the ‘locked’ and ‘unlocked’ interaction states of the corner part and the clips:
‘locked’: the two cylinders of the clips are inserted into two holes in the corner parts
‘unlocked’: the user lifts up the panel to free up the upper cylinder of the clip, which allows the panel to rotate along the axis of the lower cylinder. In the last section of the panel’s travel path, the friction between the cylinder and the corner part slows the fall of the panel.
(V1 Design)
(Visible Crack in Delft’s Prototype)
(CAD Model of Redelft Design)
(CAD Model of Updown Design)
Proposed Solution Paths
During our process, we worked on two main designs: ‘Redelft’, an evolution of Delft’s design focused on increased durability, and ‘Updown’, an alternative mechanism that takes V1’s knob mechanism sliding down concept with increased usability and durability. They were chosen after rating each design in terms of estimations/expectations of cost, manufacturability, usability, and durability, and verifying it with NIC. We recruited students to help us determine which design was more user-friendly, and the consensus was that ‘Redelft’ was more intuitive and instilled a greater confidence in its use. NIC was still very interested in our ‘Updown’ design and is looking to incorporate it for versions that will be sent to areas with limited space.
Side Panel Clip Redesign
The initial clip NIC was using to secure the acrylic side panels created a large area of stress that very often caused the acrylic to crack. When talking with users of the product, we were told that in emergency situations the nurses would simply lean over the panels to access the baby, putting significant force on these panels. In order to alleviate this problem, we examined how we could redesign the clip to minimize points of stress. We pitched two ideas to NIC:
A curved clip that would alleviate stress by making the material switch from acrylic to clip more gradual
A long clip that extended from the bottom the panel all the way to the top
After bringing these ideas to NIC, they wanted us to pursue the long clip since they felt it best fixed the issue while also simply looking like it was more durable. This made users more likely to trust the product.
(Curved Clip)
(Long Clip)
Adjusting Clip to Each Design
Since NIC ultimately wanted to use the long clip, we had to design variations that would allow it to work for both the ‘Updown’ and ‘Redelft’ mechanisms. Both redesigns replaced the previous mechanism used to fix the acrylic panel in place with interference fit pegs. Additionally, we made each clip completely encase the side of the panel instead of keeping the bottom open.
For the ‘Updown’ clip, we include the following features:
A gradual thickness to slow descent
Two rectangular cylinders to match the slotted design of the mechanism
Stoppers so the panel wouldn’t slide to the floor
For the ‘Redelft’ clip, we included the following feature:
Two cylindrical cylinders to allow for locking and rotation
The designs for both of these clips was done entirely by me.
(Updown Clip)
(Redelft Clip)
My Takeaways
This class provided me with an experience unlike anything I had ever had in my undergraduate journey. With all of the classes I’ve taken, I’ve had a plethora of resources available and never had to think about hard limitations. While some classes have to apply restrictions to designs, this was the first time I had to design something where the restrictions didn’t feel so arbitrary. We had to consider what resources NIC had available in Nepal and how the design changes we gave them would impact their costs and supply chain. It felt very meaningful to work on a product that was going to be used to truly help people and make a difference in someone’s life. Making something more user-friendly will ultimately help make this product stronger and improve its ability to reach a larger audience. I’m extremely grateful for all of the help I received from my teammates as well as from our partner organization, and I know what I learned from this class will make me a better engineer and designer.