This year he graduated with his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Technology (EBET).
“At the time, universities worldwide, including MIT were working in earnest on mobile ventilators,” says Imran. “I chose this as my design project in the final year of my BTech in Mechanical Engineering in 2020, which continued into my Master’s in 2021.”
The Advanced Engineering Design Group (AEDG) at Mandela University sponsored Imran’s Master’s degree as it had received funding from the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector (merSETA) for the research and development of mobile ventilators.
“It was very challenging and very rewarding. It allowed me to delve deep into innovative solutions that can make a real difference in the field of optimisation of medical devices,” he explains.
Imran’s family is from Lesotho and it was destiny’s hand that led him and his two brothers to the University.
“How it all happened is my Dad happened to come here after he bought a furniture manufacturing company in Gqeberha and he needed to collect some machines, assisted by my older brother Zain,” he explains. Zain had just finished matric and decided to look at what Mandela University offered.
“He was impressed with the Faculty of EBET and decided to do his electronics engineering degree here. He also loved the campus which is situated in a nature reserve at the ocean. I followed Zain, as did our younger brother Ziyaad who studied business management. Zain and I loved being in Gqeberha for its beauty and the people are really nice, so we decided to stay.”
Just before he started his Master’s, Zaahid and Zain co-founded a startup engineering company called Hedge-SA.
It began as an entrepreneurial venture with two other Mandela engineering graduates, Neo Hamilton Mabunda and Kelvin Langwani, and was incubated through Propella – Mandela University’s commercial business incubator. It is now a standalone company in North End, Gqeberha. www.hedgesa.co.za
“When we started out we were focusing on research and development using 3D printing, and we used the 3D printer to design the drive-efficient mobile ventilator platform prototype, which was then refined,” says Imran, adding that he is so grateful to Zain for all his support and electronics engineering input into the ventilator.
It never went to market because soon after the pandemic hit, South Africa started importing ventilators and there was no longer such an emergency.
HedgeSA holds the intellectual property rights for this ventilator prototype, and Imran says it would work well for emergency solutions, in ambulances and helicopters, because it is mobile, a nifty size and it can be powered with a 12-volt battery and a solar panel.
“We have taken it through four stages of the certification process with the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA),” he explains, “but the fifth level requires significant funding as you need ISO certification and an ISO certified manufacturing facility and certification, which costs over R1million.
A technical summary of Imran’s Master’s research project is that he focused on optimising the articulation system of the ventilator, to enhance its efficiency, with particular emphasis on improving the volume displacement from the ambu bag.
An ambu bag is a handheld device that delivers positive pressure ventilation to a person with insufficient or ineffective breaths. It consists of a self-inflating bag, one-way valve, mask, and an oxygen reservoir.
Several optimisation methods were explored, including generative design (GD), Design of Experiments (DOE), Shape optimisation, and topology optimisation. The study highlighted the significance of additive manufacturing and material testing in developing ventilator components, and it delved into the intricate development and fine-tuning of the ventilator setup to deliver life-sustaining respiratory aid.
The ventilator was HedgeSA’s first big project, but in 2022 they expanded into a one-stop consortium for the research, development and design of mechanical and electronic products.
“We do a lot of work for the automotive industry, such as specialised gauging, as well as for large automation companies,” Imran explains.
Continuously adding to what they offer, their latest prototype is a real time water quality monitoring system that has the capability of remotely measuring water parameters, doing the analysis on the data collected and graphically displaying it.
The product is at a late stage of development and will be applicable to municipalities, water treatment, food manufacturing industries, agriculture and mining.
Imran says his Master’s journey was instrumental in the growth of their company, and he is most grateful to his supervisor Dr William Rall from Mandela University, his co-supervisor, Professor Riaan Stopforth from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and his mentor, Clive Hands, who heads the Advanced Engineering Design Group at Nelson Mandela University. “They could not have done more for me.”