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PLANT BREEDER’S RIGHTS
DESIGNS
TRADE MARKS
PATENTS
Could you be an innovator?
Worksheet 2 - Invention case study
This case study will help you work out your ideas about what is needed creating a new product or service.
Read the following information, and then tackle the task that follows.
The situation
Asthma is a condition that makes it hard or even impossible for a person to breathe. Many young people
have asthma.
We have airways to our lungs — small tubes that carry air down to tiny sacs where oxygen is absorbed and
carbon dioxide is removed from your blood. These airways must stay open and wide to allow air to flow with
ease to these sacs. During an asthma attack they temporarily become narrow.
Triggers
The airways of people with asthma are overly sensitive. And when they are exposed to a ‘trigger’, their
immune system simply goes haywire.
The most common triggers are inhaled into the lungs, and include pollen, house dust, mites, animal fur,
and tobacco smoke. Viral and bacterial infections of the lungs can also trigger attacks, as can exercise and
emotional stress. Certain medications and occasionally some foods can also trigger asthma.
Symptoms
When a trigger sets off an asthma attack, the immune system makes the lining of the airways swell up with
fluid (inflammation). At the same time, the microscopic muscles in the walls of the airways tighten up like a
muscle cramp (bronchospasm).
The swelling and spasm causes the airways to become narrower. And to complicate the situation, the
airways block themselves further by producing excess mucus.
Impacts
An asthma attack can be mild, moderate or severe. In a severe attack it is not only difficult to breathe air into
the lungs, but even harder to breathe air out.
If it gets too difficult, air can become trapped inside your lungs, causing them to over inflate. Even worse, not
enough oxygen is breathed in and excessive carbon dioxide levels build up in your blood.
If this situation is allowed to continue for too long it can lead to death, sometimes within an hour, although
usually it takes longer than that.
CLASSROOM UNITS AVAILABLE AT: WWW.IPAUSTRALIA.GOV.AU
© COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 2011
COULD YOU BE AN INNOVATOR?
These changes cause typical asthma symptoms during an attack: difficulty in breathing, tightness in the
chest, rapid breathing, a wheeze and coughing.
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PLANT BREEDER’S RIGHTS
DESIGNS
TRADE MARKS
PATENTS
Could you be an innovator?
Worksheet 2 - Invention case study
Solution
There are chemicals that can help keep the air passages working properly. These need to be inhaled from a
‘puffer’ — a small container that holds the chemical tube, and through which you inhale.
But inhaling through a puffer is not efficient. The user has to coordinate a certain number of actions in a set
order — pressing down on the inhaler, breathing in deeply as soon as the medication is released, holding
your breath, exhaling. Not all people are able to master this sequence.
So many people use a ‘spacer’.
The spacer is a plastic cylinder, designed to make a metered-dose inhaler easier to use. The spacer adds
space in the form of a tube called a “chamber” between the canister of medication and the patient’s mouth,
allowing the patient to inhale the medication by breathing in slowly and deeply for 5–10 breaths. The spacer
device helps to slow down the aerosolised particles that you breathe in, meaning that less of the asthma
drug impacts on the back of the mouth and more may get into the lungs. Because of this, less medication is
needed for an effective dose to reach the lungs.
One end of the spacer device has a mouthpiece that you breathe through (which may or may not have a
face mask attached to it) and the other end has a hole, to which you attach the mouthpiece of your inhaler.
The mouthpiece of the inhaler should fit ‘snugly’ into the spacer device without being forced in.
Problem
This all sounds good — but the main problem with spacers is their size. Even though they unscrew into two
pieces (for cleaning) they are quite large for students to carry in school bags, and can be quite obvious —
meaning that some students may be self-conscious about using them at school.
Your task
Best suggestions:
Now look at how one group of students tackled this problem.
A group of students in Adelaide tacked this problem. Their key idea to solve the problem was: make it
collapsible.
This solution created a range of other issues or aspects that they had to address for their solution to be
effective.
CLASSROOM UNITS AVAILABLE AT: WWW.IPAUSTRALIA.GOV.AU
© COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 2011
COULD YOU BE AN INNOVATOR?
Given all this information, brainstorm to suggest some possible solutions to the main problem, that of the size
of the spacers.
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PLANT BREEDER’S RIGHTS
DESIGNS
TRADE MARKS
PATENTS
Could you be an innovator?
Worksheet 2 - Invention case study
Decide how you think these aspects have, or have not, been addressed. Summarise your answer in the
space provided
Issues
Would it still be air tight?
Answers
Could you still clean it (essential to rinse out the
aerosol after each use)
Would the materials used be durable?
Would they stop the build up of static electricity
which would reduce the amount of the active
chemical being inhaled
Would it be attractive to young people to use?
Will it be competitively priced?
Will it accurately deliver the required chemical dose?
Will it appeal to the target audience?
How can the group deal with the issues of financial
costs?
References
Look at the presentation they made on The New Inventors —
www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/video/video.htm and select 2011 Episode 11, from 09:00-14:34.
CLASSROOM UNITS AVAILABLE AT: WWW.IPAUSTRALIA.GOV.AU
© COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 2011
COULD YOU BE AN INNOVATOR?
How will they manage the specialised aspects of
testing and production?
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