Design & Testing

Design/​Engineering

Stay updated on the cutting-edge technologies supporting medical design and product development.

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Features: Medical
Design validation is one of the most important aspects of the design and development process for medical devices. It is at this stage that the medical device manufacturer confirms that the device...
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Features: Design
Incidents of nosocomial or healthcare acquired infections (HAIs) and bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics (“superbugs”) are a concern for U.S. FDA. These ongoing incidents have...
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Technology Leaders: Medical
Outsourcing can save costs and provide other commercial benefits. With outsourcing efforts related to medical devices, it is important to understand some aspects of U.S....
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Technology Leaders: Design
Electronic human machine interface (HMI) technology goes back as far as the 1940s with the punch card batch interfaces from IBM. Today, when you think of user interfaces, you may...
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Features: Design
Look around you. Doesn’t it seem like everyone is sporting a Fitbit® or other wearable technology? The fact is, consumers are quickly embracing devices that help them monitor...
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From the Editor: Design
Good News/Sad News
For much of our recent Editorial & Sales Meeting, we discussed trends that we are seeing in the marketplace, in the news, and in discussion with contributors to evaluate coverage for this year and to help sharpen our editorial focus for next year. Manufacturing will continue to see greater coverage as we increase the...
Features: Design
Optimizing Electronics for Medical Applications
Two years ago, in Medical Design Briefs, Derek Hunt offered some insight into the benefits of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology in the miniaturization of medical devices. CMOS has been around for decades and aside from the size benefits which will be discussed shortly, the...
Features: Design
Interventional cardiology is one of the most dynamic medical device markets, witnessing a surge in new product development with accompanying mergers,...
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Features: Design
While the headquarters of the world’s largest medical device and diagnostics corporations have historically been located, well,...
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Technology Leaders: Test & Measurement
Smart, connected devices are an increasing reality of daily life. It is estimated that by 2020, there will be 33 billion internet devices in the world—enough for 4...
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Features: Manufacturing & Prototyping
An experienced, recommended, custom furniture professional came over to my house to bid on building a low-profile cabinet for...
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From the Editor: Design
Six Words that Can Kill Innovation
While the late great comedian George Carlin had his infamous “Seven Words”, only six words are needed to kill innovation in any industry: “We’ve always done it this way.” How much more might be accomplished if those six words could be replaced with “what if”? What if we tried it this way? What if we...
Global Innovations: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Institute of Biomechanics of Valencia, Valencia, Spain The research project PUMA (Pressure Ulcer Measurement and Actuation), founded by the European Commission, and...
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Features: Test & Measurement
Not only are medical devices expected to function as intended, they must meet ergonomic, safety, FDA and functional requirements. They must be designed to function in adverse...
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R&D: Medical
Studying How Power Prosthetics Fail
While powered lower limb prosthetics can greatly improve the mobility of amputees, errors in the technology can also cause users to stumble or fall, say researchers at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They are examining what happens when these...
Briefs: Design
Biofeedback System for Optimal Athletic Performance
ZONE (Zeroing Out Negative Effects) is a method of biofeedback training for optimal athletic performance. ZONE is designed to improve athletes’ responses to stress, anxiety, and loss of concentration during competition. In the training environment, when the user successfully attains an optimal...
Briefs: Medical
To control product development costs without sacrificing quality, medical device OEMs are giving new life to their product development process by turning to aluminum extrusions instead...
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Applications: Tubing & Extrusion
As medical devices continue to become more complex, OEMs must continue to seek strategic partnerships with manufacturers that enable them to meet...
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Features: Medical
Advances in medical instrumentation, implantation, imaging, and telemetric technologies combined with the need to integrate medical devices into user’s activities of daily living is...
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Features: Design
Medical devices manufactured today require significant attention to safety and human factors engineering that has not always been exercised in medical device design. IEC safety...
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Global Innovations: Design
The shape of a human ear is very individual, usually symmetrical, and, like a fingerprint, so characteristic that one can identify us by them. The outer portion of our ears has a complex structure that...
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Features: Medical
Developing a medical device requires sensitivity to the delicate balance between usefulness, usability, desirability, and manufacturability. Every medical device must be useful (meet a need) and...
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INSIDER: Medical
Addressing Temperature-Stable Global Vaccine Challenge
Scientists at King's College London say they have demonstrated the ability to deliver a dried live vaccine to the skin without using a traditional needle. They also state that this technique is powerful enough to enable specialized immune cells in the skin to kick-start the immunizing...
INSIDER: Medical
50 Tests from One Drop of Blood
A new device about the size of a business card, developed by scientists at the Methodist Hospital Research Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, could let healthcare providers perform up to 50 tests for insulin and other blood proteins, cholesterol, and even viral or bacterial infection all from one...
Features: Medical
We’ve all purchased new technologies, trinkets, and toys that were so counterintuitive that it was surprising how the product ever made it to market. While a poor gadget may present little...
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INSIDER: Design
Scanning Innovation May Improve Personalized Medicine
Combining medical imaging technologies, says Ge Wang, director of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University's Center for Biomedical Imaging, Blacksburg, VA, could provide improved early disease screening, cancer staging, therapeutic assessment, and other aspects of personalized...
Features: Medical
Every medical device company faces the challenge of navigating through the FDA’s mandatory regulations, and companies have different needs that change as they mature. Early-stage medical...
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Features: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Today, powered surgical hand tools are used in almost all surgical specialties: ENT, Orthopedics, Neurology, Eye, and Plastics. Initially pneumatic powered, surgical...
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Global Innovations: Design
Engineers at Empa, a Swiss interdisciplinary research and services institution, are working together with the firm «r going» to develop an ergonomic seat for electric wheelchairs that encourages the user to...
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Ask the Expert

Eric Dietsch on the Benefits of Nitinol Wire
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In collaboration with the Fort Wayne Metals Engineering team, Eric Dietsch focuses on supporting customers with material recommendations, product development, and education. Eric is available to help you and your company with any Nitinol-related questions or needs that you may have.

Inside Story

Inside Story: Trends in Packaging and Sterilization
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Eurofins Medical Device Testing (MDT) provides a full scope of testing services. In this interview, Eurofins’ experts, Sunny Modi, PhD, Director of Package Testing; and Elizabeth Sydnor, Director of Microbiology; answer common questions on medical device packaging and sterilization.

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