Highly Conductive Sensors for Wearables

To advance soft robotics, skin-integrated electronics, and biomedical devices, researchers have developed a 3D-printed material that is soft and stretchable — traits needed for matching the properties of tissues and organs — and that self-assembles. Read on to learn more.

Part 2: Designing Piezo Handpieces for Ultrasonic Surgery

Part 1 of this article , which ran in March 2023, looked at the general structure, design variants, and system design of ultrasonic medical handpieces. Part 2 now reviews driver design, special applications, drive electronics, and failure mechanisms.

Part 1: Designing Piezo Handpieces for Ultrasonic Surgery

Part 1 of this article looks at the general structure, design variants, and system design of ultrasonic medical handpieces. In a future issue, Part 2 will examine driver design, special applications, drive electronics, and failure mechanisms.

Exploring Overmolding vs. Gluing for Bonding Medical Devices

In the medical device industry, the success of a lifesaving operation may depend on the integrity of a bond between components of varying materials.

Customizable Spun-Fiber Heart Valve Grows with Children

Heart valves can be surgically replaced, but children whose bodies are still growing may need multiple, highly invasive surgeries to replace their valves with larger ones, putting them at risk. Kevin Kit Parker’s team vowed to fix this problem.

Wearable Belt with Sensors Accurately Measures Heart Failure 24/7

Heart failure is a progressive clinical syndrome characterized by a structural abnormality of the heart, in which the heart is unable to pump sufficient blood to meet the body’s requirements.

Establishing Proper Validation of Extruded Silicone Tubing

Bring your project from the process development phase of manufacturing to a fully validated one.

Shifting Demand for Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitors Creates a Critical Supply Shortfall for Medical Electronics Needs

MLCC manufacturers are ramping up manufacturing capacity.

Biomedical Balloons: Understanding Their Physical and Mechanical Properties

Learn about the different material options for balloon catheters.

Advanced Extrusion Techniques: How Engineered Extrusion Helps Medical Device Makers Improve Device Designs and Patient Experiences

Advances in hose and tubing manufacturing techniques are supporting new miniaturized devices and wearables.

Reduced Heat Leakage Improves Wearable Heat Harvester

A flexible heat harvesting device shows better efficiency at retaining heat to power the device.

Tiny Wireless Implant Detects Oxygen Deep Within the Body

The implant provides real-time measurements of tissue oxygen levels.

The Challenges of Handheld and Wearable Medical Device Batteries

Batteries must meet high power capacity, small physical size, and reliability requirements.

New Approach to Fastener Design Prevents Loosening in Medical Devices

Even the latest medical and biomedical innovations, from imaging equipment to sensors, require fasteners that never fail.

Artificial Neurons Cure Chronic Diseases

Artificial neurons on silicon chips that behave just like the real thing have been invented by scientists — a first-of-its-kind achievement with enormous scope for medical devices to cure chronic...

How to Protect Patients from Potential Electrical Failure

People and power don’t mix well, and this is particularly true when people are medical patients. Aside from the more usual environment of a medical facility, patients are also...

Adapting Prototyping to Meet Rapid Advances in Medical Device Designs

Rapid prototyping has long played a vital role in the evolution of medical device technology. Effectively applied during a product's early design stages, it can generate...

Design for Inspection: The Key to Lower Cost and Higher Profit Margins

More OEMs than ever before are adopting the concept of design for manufacturability (DFM). However, most don’t realize that inspection can represent 20–40 percent...

Quality Assurance: Risk Mitigation for Lithium-Ion Battery Packs

Safety and reliability are the key concerns when determining the right power source for a medical device. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are often considered for their higher...

9 Tips for Addressing the Documentation Burden of the FDA’s Design Control Regulation

Some of the biggest stumbling blocks encountered by medical device firms on the way to clearance or approval of their devices by the U.S. Food and Drug...

Linear Guides for the Next Generation of Medical Machines

Demand for miniature motion components follows trends. Not too long ago, the motion systems used in medical and lab automation equipment had technical requirements that were easy to...

Micromolding Is Shaping the Future of Drug Delivery

An important movement within the medical device industry is poised to revolutionize the point-of-care (POC) drug delivery market. The goal at hand—making drug delivery devices more...

How to Simplify Medical Device Software Integration and Certification

Medical device manufacturers operate in a challenging environment filled with stringent regulatory requirements and industry pressures. With a rise in mainstream competitors...

Design Criteria of Power Supplies for Use in Medical Devices

The third edition of IEC 60601-1 has been in effect since June 2012. It replaces the previous version as a basic standard for medical electrical equipment and describes the general...

Blood Processor Device Could Treat Sepsis

A team of engineers at Oregon State University (OSU), Corvallis, say that they have developed a new technology that could revolutionize treatment and prevention of sepsis. Commonly called “blood...

A New Alloy for Medical Electronics Applications

History Although the deadline for RoHS compliance for medical device manufacturers is nearly a year away (July 22, 2014), there is more than ten years of testing and in-service data that can be...

The Pursuit of Power for Surgical Instruments

As an increasing number of patients enter the operating room, more and more orthopedic surgeons are becoming orthopedic patients themselves. According to a survey entitled “Occupational Hazards...

Quality Management: Key To Medical Electronics Assembly and Manufacturing

No other industry in the US is under more pressure than medical electronics, and those pressures continue mounting each year for greater innovation and products that are...