MACPAC has revealed details of its work in assisting The University of Cambridge in the design of a Covid testing kit.
The university has been working with individuals who are participating in the Track-Covid study, which includes providing blood samples for Covid-19 antibody testing. The brief given to Macpac was to provide an effective way of holding and protecting all parts of the test kit, particularly during transit.
Macpac’s design team came up with a solution for the manufacture of a bespoke clam pack with dedicated cavities to contain the testing kit.
A resin prototype with CNC-engineered cavities was created. Samples were then sent to the university for testing before the go-ahead was given to make the aluminium production tool. This was machined in-house and ran on one of Macpac’s 12 inline thermoforming machines for manufacture of the final clam packs, which were formed in R-PET material that contains up to 86% recycled content and is 100% recyclable through kerb side collections.
The study is being conducted by university researchers to help provide a better understanding of the biological and environmental determinants of the Covid-19 virus, in a bid to determine why some people with the virus exhibit clear and debilitating symptoms, whilst others are asymptomatic.
