Computer Aided Design (CAD) is used extensively in Design and R&D departments across many different industries and business sectors. If you’re wondering how CAD could help your project, here are two very diverse initiatives that have been made possible by CAD technology to give you a vision of what can be achieved.

A cure for cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in the world. Fortunately, there are regular screening programmes and more recently a vaccine has been developed. Most cases are curable if identified and treated early enough. However, in the developing world where such medical options are not available for reasons of cost and lack of an adequate healthcare infrastructure, this is not the case. According to World Health Organisation statistics, over 275,000 deaths are recorded annually.

Recently, a new device was designed using Computer Aided Design and created through 3D printing technology. ‘CryoPop’, as the device is called, offers a solution that is 10 times cheaper and over 30 times more efficient than other treatments that are currently in use and offers a glimmer of hope for those in less-developed parts of the world.

CryoPop has been developed by biomedical engineers from Momo Scientific and Jhpiego in conjunction with developers in the bioengineering lab at Johns Hopkins University. The process used cutting edge CAD techniques and the latest design software. Once the initial design was complete, 3D printers were used to create the first model. Many alterations and adjustments were required to achieve the accuracy required, and CAD made this a quick and simple process. As a result, a final version was completed and is now being tested ‘in the field’.

The new treatment enabled by the device is radical and unique in that it uses CO2 cartridges (dry ice) as a cryogenic agent that freezes precancerous lesions located in the cervix. It is hoped that CryoPop will be a frontline weapon in the fight against cervical cancer in developing countries as dry ice is readily available there as part of the production process used by soda companies.

Potomac Photonics, a Maryland based company, was approached and they agreed to use their 3D Systems Projet HD3000 Plus machine to print CryoPop. This fulfilled the necessary parameters required to successfully complete the prototype. Although the device is still in the early stages of testing, Momo Scientific ultimately intends to distribute the finished product throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and India where it is hoped that thousands of lives will be saved.

CAD designed solution to urban gridlock

Fed up with wasting costly time sitting in inner city traffic jams en route to business meetings, US billionaire Elon Musk recently commissioned WhiteClouds, a print and design company, to design and create a 3D representation of his futuristic transport system, the Hyperloop. WhiteClouds were given just 48 hours to come up with a physical representation of the eccentric businessman’s vision.

Computer Aided Design software was used to replicate the hard copy blueprint for the Hyperloop: a solar powered fleet of passenger capsules literally flying inside an elevated tunnel of tubes supported by pillars. A team of five designers worked on the model – using a CAD model, three separate 3D printers were then co-ordinated to create each part of the Hyperloop system. The complete system was then assembled from the individually produced component parts.

Although there are no plans in the foreseeable future for the Hyperloop system to become a full-scale reality, the project gives a glimpse of what could be achievable in the future as the tech behind CAD and 3D printing becomes more advanced and it becomes feasible to produce full-scale structures and componentry.

CAD technology can be used for many varied design functions across multiple industries and sectors. How could CAD help your business to get creative, grow, and flourish?