Improving the lives of service personnel
Case study from Nottingham Trent University who pitched their ideas to industry and investors at the CDE Marketplace on 5 February 2015.
Nottingham Trent University has received funding from CDE for 2 projects addressing Defence Medical Services’ requirements.
Nottingham Trent University at CDE Marketplace
One focuses on the development of a seamless knitted sleeve for the management of perspiration at the interface between prosthetic limbs and an amputee’s residual stump.
Current prosthetic sleeves are constructed from textile fabrics coated with an impermeable sheet of silicone rubber. Consequently, sweat is not transported away from the skin and accumulates within the sleeve.
The breathable prosthetic sleeves could aid the recovery of injured military personnel by reducing complications, such as ulcers. The lack of seams will help improve comfort and protect against pressure necrosis. This technology could also be of benefit to amputees in the general population.
A second project is just beginning, which looks at ways to incorporate thermistors into textile yarn to produce a sensor sock to monitor (and prevent) the conditions that cause non-freezing cold injury.
Work on these projects has provided technology advances to MOD and showcased the University’s capabilities, which have been further exploited by MOD on projects relating to the development of models to train surgeons and in the development of wearable technologies. For the latter, the University has also been working on a project with the University of Southampton to develop fully integrated electronic textiles using printed electronics. The work led to £2.8 million funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to take the project further and incorporate smaller components with enhanced functionality.
Professor Tilak Dias said:
CDE funding has been an important factor in the development of our technologies on the road to commercialisation and subsequent adoption by the military.
Centre for Defence Enterprise
Building R103
Fermi Avenue
Harwell Oxford
Oxfordshire
OX11 0QX
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Last updated 25 February 2015 + show all updates
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Video added: Nottingham Trent University at CDE Marketplace
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Pitch presentation slides added.
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First published.