Irish seating specialist LCS has produced a world-first 3D printed custom cushion with ventilation system for wheelchair users.
Following successful tests with wheelchair users, the Sligo-based company is now working with partners in the UK and Europe to bring the cushion to a wider customer base in these markets and in new markets around the world.
The WheelAir Custom Cushion combines a 3D-printed lattice structure with LCS’s WheelAir ventilation system to provide an active airflow in the cushion, addressing micro-climate.
The custom cushion uses programmable foam to ensure maximum comfort, allowing customers to choose not only the shape and contours of the cushion, but also the density.
This allows for the choice of five levels of softness across multiple zones on the same cushion, 3D printed in one piece. LCS has combined the cushion with its ventilation system, WheelAir.
Each cushion is printed from the scanned shape of the user, ensuring it is entirely suited to their needs.
Programmable foam is breathable, hygienic and bio-compatible and is designed to ensure comfort for the user by distributing and relieving pressure.
Founded in 2008, LCS is an industry leader in the manufacture of custom-made seating solutions for wheelchair users. LCS also works with the world’s leading wheelchair providers to offer a wide range of high-quality seating and accessories for the wheelchair user.
The company employs a highly-specialised clinical team to develop and produce custom-made, innovative seating solutions.
LCS acquired Scottish company WheelAir in 2023. WheelAir ventilation system is designed to remove excess heat and moisture from the wheelchair seat and the backs of wheelchair users and cool their core temperature. It allows for self-regulation of body temperature and moisture control through convection, conduction and evaporation. The system can be adapted to suit models of custom wheelchair seating.
The WheelAir system mitigates health and wellbeing implications for wheelchair users suffering from overheating and profuse sweating –including muscle spasms, heat stroke, heat seizures, moisture lesions and pressure sores.
By pairing the WheelAir ventilation system with a custom 3D printed lattice structure cushion, LCS has created a bespoke seating solution for wheelchair users that is wholly unique.
Luke Conway, Founder and Director of LCS, said:
“We had been working with WheelAir for many years by incorporating it into our custom foam backrests, but we felt that we were not realising full potential with our foam cushions. We always thought we could combine 3D printed seating and WheelAir, so we started to explore that option.
“The opportunity to purchase WheelAir came up in February 2023 and we made the decision to buy it and start planning to combine 3D printed seating with the WheelAir ventilation system. The WheelAir Custom Cushion was then born.
“Over the past six months we have tested and trialled the WheelAir Custom Cushions with wheelchair users in Ireland, the UK and Europe. Our initial testing and user trials have been very positive in regard to the wheelchair users’ comfort and ability to control their temperature. The open structure of the 3D printed cushion allows air to flow much more freely, and when we add the active air flow from WheelAir, the user is cooled.
“This is the first of its kind, in the world of wheelchair seating, a ventilated cushion addressing micro-climate. We are working with a number of partners in the UK and Europe, and we plan to widen our customer base in these markets and other markets around the world.”