This device acts similarly to a hand dryer. The frame has two circular holes to place your hands within the hollow box. Your hands are then exposed to the bacteria killing UVC lights which our situated along the insides of the box. The dimensions of the box are 24 inches long, 12 inches high, and 12 inches deep.
Technical and Clinical Feasibility
Technical Feasibility
The technologies required for our device include: a plastic box for the frame, a motion sensor, and UV lamps. There are essentially no challenges to producing this device. Similar technologies have been previously produced to sanitize surfaces. There is an easy and clear path to developing the device.
Clinical Feasibility
This device has already been proven to work. UVC light, the shortest wavelength of UV light, has been proven to kill 99.9% of most viruses, airborne bacteria, and mold spores. Devices such as nail salon UV lamps and UV sanitizing wands already exist. It should be fairly easy to receive a clinical trial for our device. There are clinical risks in that prolonged exposure to UV radiation could be potentially harmful to the skin. But again, there already are preexisting devices that use the same types of technology.
Market Analysis
Value Creation
Our product creates a cleaner and safer environment for medical practices of any type by using UV radiation to eliminate the presence of bacteria. Using UV radiation will help medical professionals to save not only time by eliminating the need to wash their hands, but it will also help the environment by limiting the use of water.
Manufacturing Cost
Our product will cost $100 per unit to manufacture.
Sales Price
The calculated sales price of our product is $400 per unit so that we will be able to make a profit on our design.
Market Size
The amount of hospitals in the United States is 5,564. The amount of registered dentists in the US is about 186,000; assuming 2 dentists per practice leaves us with 93,000 offices. Adding these two numbers together brings us 98,564 buildings that we would be servicing with our product, we will also try to sell 10 units to each building. This would get us a market size for our product of $394,256,000. This amount of money is our total market size, using 5% as our realistic market we get $19,712,800.
Fast Facts on US Hospitals. American Hospital Association, 2006-2017, http://www.aha.org/research/rc/stat-studies/fast-facts.shtml
Health Care Industry Statistics. Statistic Brain Research Institute, 2017, http://www.statisticbrain.com/health-care-industry-statistics/
BME 100 Fall 2017
