What You Should Ask Yourself When Designing a Wearable Medical Device

For wearable devices to function as intended, they need to have a secure, reliable hold for the desired duration of use.

Best Practices for Medical Device Design: Five Strategies for Success

Here are five medical device specific strategies UEGroup recommends to make stronger products with stronger FDA submissions.

Designing Devices: Creating Stronger Bonds with Cold Plasma

Cold plasma has been used for decades to treat surfaces in a variety of industries.

Good Design Controls Are Critical to Avoiding FDA Issues

Medical device companies recognize that having an emphasis on design controls helps to assure good design and engineering practices that yield high-quality solutions. This is critical...

Plate Handler Adds Automation in Medical Laboratories

Peak Analysis and Automation (PAA), Farnborough, UK, has designed a budget-friendly plate handler that works in a tight laboratory footprint, developing an innovative product that could be a...

Clean Design: Reducing Patient Infections Starts with Design for Cleanability

Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reported progress on reducing overall infection rates with enhanced safety measures and better disinfection...

A Strip You Can Rely On: Tips for Designing Blood Glucose Test Strips

When it comes to diabetes management, accurate blood glucose readings are paramount. And when it comes to generating accurate readings, the quality of the test strip is...

3D Printing: SLS Creates New Potential for Design in Medical Technology

Laser sintering technology enables medical technology designers to print plastic objects for feasibility studies within a very short time. The functional prototypes largely...

Advanced Design Tools for Additively Manufactured Medical Devices

While the regulatory and validation burden can be high, it's not surprising that the medical device industry is one of the earliest adopters of additive manufacturing (AM, aka 3D...

Engineers Develop More Stable, Efficient Prosthetic Foot

Engineers have developed a more stable prosthetic leg — and a better way of designing them — that could make challenging terrain more manageable for people who have lost a lower leg....

Sensor-Packed Glove Could Aid Prosthetic Design

Researchers have compiled a massive dataset that enables an AI system to recognize objects through touch alone. Signals are collected by a user wearing a sensor-packed glove while handling a...

Temperature-Controlled Materials

Researchers have designed a temperature-controllable copper-based material for sieving or storing different kinds of gases. The rationale used to design the material could act as a blueprint for developing...

Style Meets Technology in the World of Wearables

People often talk about thinking “outside the box” but one of the things most exciting in modern technology is being able to design “off the glass” — meaning a piece of technology that...

Design for Manufacturability Improves Articulating Instrument Development

Precision in surgery is paramount. Surgeons rely on a variety of handheld instruments, and they increasingly want tools that can aid in accessing hard-to-reach areas in...

New Polymer Heart Valves Improve Patient Outcomes

NIBIB-funded engineers are designing and testing aortic heart valve replacements made of polymers rather than animal heart tissues. The goal is to optimize performance of these valves in an...

Miniaturizing Smart Wearables for Fitness and Activity Tracking

Traditionally, small chip antennas used in Bluetooth-enabled devices have required a designated ground “keep out” area to minimize interference from other components and ensure...

Medical Device Design: The Importance of Thoughtful Adhesive Selection

Selecting an adhesive when designing a wearable medical device is not a trivial exercise. Too often the adhesive selection process is executed with the mindset “tape is...

Design for Manufacturing: Tips for Molding Components in Silicone

Device functionality is usually the starting point when designing devices. Another element that needs to be considered when designing devices and their subsequent components is...

Key Human Factors Drive Design for Disposables, Test Kits and IFUs

Bring to mind your last straight-out-of-the-box experience with a disposable medical device of any kind. Without a doubt, everyone has experienced the same frustrations:...

Effects of Surface Preparation on Medical Silicone Adhesive Performance

Medical device manufacturers often use silicone adhesives to bond parts together when assembling products such as catheters, pacemakers, cochlear implants, aesthetic...

Improving Cancer Screening by Design

Every year, 50,000 Americans die from colorectal cancer, a common cancer that is easy to detect and can be effectively treated if caught in its earliest stages. Unfortunately, 38 percent of Americans...

Four-Step Plastic Testing Protocol: Making Informed Design and Material Decisions

Medical devices across the United States must not only keep pace with advances in technology but also with the increased use of harsh solvents and disinfectants....

Designing a System to Obtain Electrodermal Activity for Wearables

In recent years, activity trackers and other wearable electronic devices have gained popularity due to users’ desire to monitor, measure, and track using various real-time...

Miniaturized Wireless Medical Wearables

Traditionally, small chip antennas used in RF-enabled medical devices have required a designated ground “keep out” area to minimize interference from other components and ensure the ideal radiation...

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...

Nonprofit Pushes Design Limits to Develop Life-Saving Technology for Underprivileged Communities

Nearly four million infants in developing countries die each year within a month of birth due to complications of prematurity, low birth weight,...

Design Controls: Addressing Changes in ISO 13485

When ISO 9001 was produced by the International Standards Organization, it put forth the general quality standard that organizations could adopt to ensure that the organization is focused on...

Designing for Mechanical and Signal Integrity in Handheld Medical Treatment Applications

Handheld medical devices must perform across a wide range of device specifications and end-user environmental conditions. Mechanical and signal integrity...

Molecular Thermostat Makes Heaters Simpler, Safer and More Stable

Many medical applications require heat for optimal performance. For patient comfort, effective treatment, and a variety of diagnostic processes, equipment and fluids must be...