Essentially Rubber: Inflatable incubators

Leading-edge designs and applications showing how elastomer materials contribute to all aspects of life and lifestyle in the 21st century:

Gloucester, UK – Determined to save many of the estimated one million premature babies who die each year worldwide, UK designer James Roberts developed a light-weight, inflatable incubator.

As CEO and founder of Nottingham-based Mom Incubators Ltd, Roberts worked with Permali Gloucester Ltd to develop the portable units, which can be assembled anywhere and used immediately by clinicians.

Now commercialised, the units are designed particularly for use in rural or war-torn areas, as well as during intra-hospital transport and first admission to transitional care.

Designed to be cost-effective and robust, the incubator gives a stable heated environment, while weighing under 20kg and being compactable and energy-efficient.

For the development project, Permali introduced its thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) elastomeric film products, which offer good biocompatibility and ease-of-fabrication, as well as being durable, fatigue-resistant, and lightweight.

Gloucester-based Permali worked with Mom Incubators to provide a cost-effective TPU film material with the exact additives, technical specifications and properties needed to meet all processing, product-performance and regulatory requirements.

The system is currently being used in health services in the UK and other countries worldwide, including in challenging environments, where the design is claimed to have "revolutionised" neonatal incubators.