HEALTH
EAR CLEANING
DEVICE
FEM validation of a deformable
silicone tip, to replace the cotton bud
CLIENT
Innovative startup developing personal hygiene devices, focused on reusable and sustainable solutions
CHALLENGE
Establish whether a hollow silicone tip, inflated with air in the ear canal, works mechanically — before building it
RESULT
Working principle validated, optimal operating conditions identified, risk of mechanical failure reduced
01
CHALLENGE
The market for ear cleaning is still dominated by single-use cotton buds, which are limited both in how well they work and in what they cost the environment.
The client was developing a device built around a hollow silicone tip, designed to conform to the ear canal, be more comfortable to use, clean more effectively and be reusable. The principle is expansion by air: the tip is inserted, inflated and then withdrawn, carrying the debris out with it.
That deformability is the whole idea, and it is also where the unknowns are — non-linear material behaviour, complex deformation, the risk of rupture or fatigue, and sensitivity to manufacturing tolerances. Validating the concept before prototyping called for an advanced engineering approach.
02
SOLUTION
We built an advanced numerical model based on non-linear FEM simulation, able to represent the hyperelastic behaviour of the silicone accurately rather than approximate it with a linear stand-in.
The model was constructed from the 3D geometry of the device, the mechanical characteristics of the material, the process parameters supplied by the manufacturer and the production tolerances. Particular attention went into the tolerances: the component was simulated in its worst case, not its nominal one, because that is the part that actually gets made.
03
RESULTS
The simulations gave a detailed picture of how the device behaves in real operating conditions. The model confirmed the working principle: the tip deforms correctly under pressure and adapts to the geometry of the canal.
Advanced FEM turned an innovative concept into an engineering-validated project. It let the client reduce development risk, make design decisions on data rather than intuition, optimise the design before prototyping and shorten the path to industrialisation.
The project is a demonstration of what numerical simulation is for when non-linear materials and deformable geometries are involved: the questions cannot be answered by hand, and answering them by building is expensive.
