Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Device
Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Device
Wound therapy equipment has stayed bulky, loud and hospital-bound. Outerspace built Arc around low-cost electronics and a leak-detection algorithm, cheap enough to be disposable and simple enough to wear home.
Summary
- Industry
- Medical & Scientific
- Expertise
- Industrial Design
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electronic engineering
- Awards
Project Details
Project Details
Challenge
A hospital device that had to disappear into daily life
Negative pressure wound therapy speeds post-surgical healing, but the equipment behind it has stayed bulky, loud and hospital-bound. Varivac wanted a version patients could wear home: small, quiet and cheap enough to be disposable, without losing the clinical control a wound care team relies on.
Adjustable pressure inside a low-cost shell
We built Arc around simple, low-cost electronics and sensors so the unit could be manufactured as a disposable device rather than a capital asset. Our firmware team wrote a detection algorithm that monitors for blockages and leaks across the system, and we engineered multiple negative pressure levels so clinicians can tailor therapy to different wound types as healing progresses.
Outcome
Arc runs for 40 days, longer than any other device in its category, and gives post-surgical patients independent recovery at home instead of a hospital bed. Arc by Varivac won a 2025 Good Design Award in the Engineering Design category.
Technical Insights:
Industrial design (Creativity)
Compact, lightweight form designed for comfort and quiet operation at home
Electronic engineering (Capability)
Simple, low-cost sensor and hardware architecture built for disposable manufacturing
Firmware design (Clarity)
Blockage and leak detection algorithm for patient safety, adjustable across multiple pressure levels
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