Chinese market fed a new standard by XHF and IDC

XHF raise the standard of design and engineering in the Chinese market due to enteral feeding device developed by IDC.

The international product design and development company, Industrial Design Consultancy, was asked to develop a new enteral feeding system with peristaltic pump head, pressure sensing and precise user control by XHF. 

This was a new product and market for XHF who was keen to develop a device that came into market with the highest levels of quality and innovation.  A key part of the project was to develop a patient feeding system that could accurately feed liquid food at different rates of flow over set periods of time, with programmable control features.  High precision control was important, as some patients would need food delivered slowly over longer periods, while others had a need for short concentrated bursts of food.

Hygiene was a key requirement and the IDC team created a novel design, which meant the main unit never came into contact with food, to ensure optimum cleanliness.  IDC’s industrial designers also focused on making the device’s layout clear and intuitive with a simple user interface.  Lights and alarms were built into the product to warn of any system errors or blockages.  

IDC's engineers handled all structural design elements, including the battery, motor, door and stand fixings.  The team worked with IDC Models to set up a test rig for the product and was able to conduct extensive tests of the peristaltic pump head to ensure that the feed line was not susceptible to blockage.  This testing was important to understand how the pump worked when patients moved around, causing pressure changes in the feed line, which could potentially cause blockages.  IDC's team engineered a solution using external tube pressure sensors to detect feed line blockages, which automatically triggered an alarm.

As patients may need the device to be ambulatory, care was also taken to make the device easy to carry with an integrated handle.  IDC Models supported this by producing a block model of the device to test handle ergonomics and see how easy the product would be to carry around.

IDC's final design gave XHF an innovative and easy to use pump.  The product was successful and IDC enabled XHF to enter a new market segment in China.