Within our aging society, brain diseases like Alzheimer's disease have become a significant concern. Given the potential side effects associated with medication, alternative solutions are imperative. To address this issue, a collaborative research project between ETH Zurich and Bottneuro AG is underway, aiming to develop an innovative neurostimulation headset for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. This groundbreaking headset utilizes electrode stimulation to target the affected brain areas with low alternating currents. The project's ultimate objective is to provide an easy-to-use treatment method that maximizes outcomes for patients. To achieve this, the project leverages three key advantages of additive manufacturing (AM):

1. Design Freedom: The design freedom offered by AM is crucial for creating the complex shape of the headset. This is particularly important for generating the compliant elements that ensure sufficient contact pressure between the electrodes and the patient's head, optimizing signal transmission.

2. Customization: Achieving optimal signal transmission requires a perfect fit between the headset and the patient's head. AM excels in this aspect by enabling the adaptation of the general headset design to the specific geometry of each patient's head. By combining AM with design automation tools, the project aims to automate the customization process, including the precise placement of necessary electrodes.

3. Direct Integration of Electronics: Recent advancements in AM processes have facilitated the direct integration of electronic components during manufacturing. With that, the research project eliminates the need for additional assembly steps, such as the wiring between the electrodes and the power supply. This integration not only saves material, costs, and manufacturing time but also results in a more compact and lightweight product.

These benefits can enhance usability for both patients and medical staff involved in the treatment process. In summary, the research project harnesses AM’s advantages to tackle the challenges of Alzheimer's treatment.

Bürkert Fluid Control Systems is a leading manufacturer of measurement and control systems for liquids and gases across industries like analytics, laboratory, pharmaceuticals, food, and beverage. Components such as valves, pumps, and sensors are mass-produced and standardized products. However, Bürkert also offers its customers the development of integrated systems that are tailored to their requirements. Engineers from the Bürkert Systemhaus then work on a solution that integrates single components into a fluid control system. In such projects, manifolds are required to connect components using flow channels, to hold the components in place, and to provide interfaces to adjacent subsystems. Additive manufacturing (AM) is used for prototypes for pre-evaluations and potentially for final products if manifolds are of small size, small batch size, or for projects with special requirements. Such a requirement may be the processing of a fluid where the pressure drop in the system must be kept low, or kink-free channels are needed to avoid clogging and for better cleaning. However, one challenge is the high design effort required for AM manifolds, which gets even higher through changing customer specifications during the project. To address this challenge, Bürkert has partnered with inspire and ETH Zurich, who are researching the automation of design tasks for AM parts. In a pilot study, a system with more than 20 components and connectors was specified through a fluid plan and a design space. Additionally, the change in customer specifications was simulated through (I) a change in the fluid plan, (II) a change in the arrangement of single components, and (III) a change in the build orientation of the AM part. This study investigated how an automated design workflow can be used for the design of the specified manifold and how to deal with changing requirements.