Portable Operating Room for Surgery

A year or two ago, I came across a poster in the hallway showcasing SurgiBox, a portable operating room concept. The idea immediately caught my attention—it was fascinating to see such a compact, deployable solution for surgical care in low-resource settings.

After digging deeper into the SurgiBox system, I noticed some areas where the design could be adapted, particularly for different use cases—like venues or event-based deployments. Unlike emergency scenarios, venues allow for some initial setup time, which opens the door to more modular or semi-permanent solutions. At the same time, they demand quick turnover between uses, something SurgiBox wasn’t originally optimized for.

This led me to reimagine a more temporary, venue-adapted operating enclosure—one that’s easy to sanitize, reset, and reuse for multiple patients, without sacrificing the portability and isolation principles that made the SurgiBox compelling in the first place.

While this Instructable focuses primarily on the design process, I've also created a small-scale prototype using a 3D printer and plastic wrap.

To follow along, you'll need a CAD program such as Fusion 360 to access or modify the model.

For a full-scale build, the structure requires 21 polycarbonate tubes, each 1 foot long, with an estimated total cost of around $60. The panels can be made from clear plastic sheets, and for a more durable or semi-permanent version, flat polypropylene sheets are a great alternative due to their chemical resistance and recyclability. Additionally, 3D printed connecting parts will need to be printed. Traditionally PLA is used, however, for something that may need to be torn down and recycled, PETG is the better option.

I began by researching operating rooms and surgical tables to better understand the key requirements and constraints. While certain environmental factors like temperature are difficult to manage in a venue setting, I identified others that could potentially be controlled with the help of an air pump system, such as humidity, air quality, and air pressure.

Next, I studied the dimensions and ergonomics of standard operating tables and used that information to guide the design of a portable, modular version suited for temporary or pop-up medical environments.

Another key design constraint was ensuring that most components are either recyclable, or collapsible and reusable. To meet these goals, I explored a range of materials based on their mechanical properties and environmental impact.

For primary structural support, I selected polycarbonate tubes. These offer excellent rigidity, durability, and chemical resistance, making them ideal for maintaining structural integrity. While polycarbonate is not as widely recycled as more common plastics, it is intended here to be lightweight and portable, with recycling considered only at end-of-life.

For secondary structural elements, I chose PETG, a tough, chemically resistant plastic that is readily recyclable and 3D printable. Its versatility makes it ideal for brackets, connectors, or modular frame components.

For the paneling, two options are considered:

1. Plastic wrap: A low-cost, flexible, and easily replaceable option that can be recycled after short-term use.
2. Polypropylene sheets: A more durable alternative that is lightweight, chemically inert, and highly recyclable, though more expensive so it is best suited for semi-permanent setups rather than for frequent replacement.

I began with modeling the polycarbonate tube in Fusion 360, which is a simple sketch of a disc and an extrude. This part will later be copied over multiple times for the assembly.

Using the dimensions of a standard operating table as a reference, I began laying out the polycarbonate tubes in CAD to determine a configuration that would best support the structure while maintaining portability and ease of assembly.

One of my key goals was to minimize the number of unique parts in order to make the structure easier to assemble and more intuitive to set up. By designing the system so that connectors—like right-angle and T-shaped joints—could be reused in multiple locations, even if some of their ports weren’t filled, I was able to reduce complexity without sacrificing flexibility.\

Once the connectors were modeled in CAD, I adjusted their placement as needed to get a clear sense of how the structure would come together. With the frame layout finalized, I then modeled the locations for the plastic panels, ensuring they would fit securely within the structure. Finally, I added cutouts for access ports, allowing a surgeon’s hands to reach inside the enclosure while maintaining a sealed environment.

To complete the enclosure, I added ring inserts that slot into the access port holes. These rings are inspired by the ones commonly seen in laboratory glove boxes, designed to hold flexible plastic barriers that reduce the risk of contamination while allowing access. I also modeled an air pump unit that can be mounted onto one of the unused port holes. Including a pump is essential for maintaining a controlled internal environment, helping to regulate air quality, pressure, and humidity, key factors in replicating the conditions of a standard operating room.

Understanding scale has always been a challenge for me, so to better grasp how my design would function in the real world, I created a render based on my CAD model in Fusion360, along with a small 3D printed physical scale model. These visualizations were helpful in evaluating proportions, and usability.

I also fed one of my renders into ChatGPT’s image tools to generate a more lifelike interpretation of the final structure. This step helped me envision how the design might actually appear in the real world after being manufactured, giving me a good sense on the feasibility of the design.

Just like a venue that must adapt quickly and then disappear without waste, this project aims to create a structure that is effective in the moment, yet recyclable or reusable when the need has passed.