Embedded Systems & Chips

Finger Pouch Actuator Improves Rehab Gloves

Researchers have succeeded in adding finger straightening or extension to soft rehabilitation gloves through a novel foldable pouch actuator (FPA) without compromising the already existing functionality of finger bending or flexion. Read on to learn more about it.

Twisted Nanotubes Power Sensors

Researchers have shown that twisted carbon nanotubes can store three times more energy per unit mass than advanced lithium-ion batteries. The finding may advance carbon nanotubes as a promising solution for storing energy in devices that need to be lightweight, compact, and safe, such as medical implants and sensors. Read on to learn more.

How to Design Reliable, Low-Power Wearable Medicine Injectors

Advances in IoT and electronic technology are enabling more personalized, continuous medical care. People with medical conditions that require a high degree of monitoring and continuous medication infusion can now take advantage of wearable medicine injection devices to treat their problems. Read on to learn more.

Cybersecurity

October is national cybersecurity month, and it is more important than ever to address ever-increasing cyber threats healthcare systems and devices. When was the term cybersecurity coined, and who deployed the first virus?

Flexible Tentacle Electrodes Precisely Record Brain Activity

A team has developed a new type of electrode that enables more detailed and more precise recordings of brain activity over an extended period of time. These electrodes are made of bundles of extremely fine and flexible fibers of electrically conductive gold encapsulated in a polymer. Read on to learn more.

New Products and Services

See the new products and services, including Raltron's line of mobile speakers for use in IoT, wearable, headset/hearing, smart home, consumer, and medical devices; miniature rotor motors from Portescap; a Class 1 laser workstation from Amada Weld Tech; Parvalux by maxon's rapidly prototyped motors; a 3D laser-based, computer-vision system from Coherix; compact EtherCAT brushless servo motor models from Teknic; and more.

Implant Powers Healing after Spinal Cord Injury

A research team has developed a new implant that conveys electrical signals and may have the potential to encourage nerve cell repair after spinal cord injury. Read on to learn more.

Project Aims to Improve LVADs

Researchers are bringing together multiple areas of technical expertise to improve LVAD performance and outcomes. Read on to learn what this means.

New Products and Services

See the new products and services, including Dri-Air Industries' new dryer for plastics, the MicroDryer Series (MD); Thomson Industries' advanced controllability options to its Electrak ® LL line of long-life electric linear actuators; Instron's next-generation Autoinjector Testing System; more than 40 different thermally conductive greases available from EpoxySet; a series of low-profile pull type clapper solenoids from Magnetic Sensor Systems; and more.

How Quantum Computing Will Impact Healthcare Data Encryption

Quantum computing is still in its infancy, but recent AI trends prove it doesn’t take long for new technology to disrupt an industry. Read on to learn more about quantum computing and its potential impact.

Why Standardization Matters in Pulsed Electric Field Generation for Clinical Electroporation

Pulsed field ablation is a nonthermal method of tissue ablation technology that uses high amplitude pulsed electrical fields to create irreversible electroporation in tissues. Read on to learn more about it.

Sensor Packaging: Critical MEMS Considerations

While MEMS sensors are revolutionizing various industries with their precision and miniaturization, they can present unique product development challenges and risks during design, development, and manufacturing. Read on to learn more.

The Role of Sensors in the Big Picture of Sustainability

In the big picture of medical equipment sustainability, sensors play an important role. That’s right, something so miniature can have quite the impact on maintaining and improving sustainability — from the product design phase to use in equipment in the home. Read on to learn more.

Therapeutic Ultrasound: Contactless Drug Delivery and Treatment Enabled by Piezo Transducers

Therapeutic ultrasound opens up numerous new fields of application for the treatment of neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, or cancer diseases. Read on to learn how.

AI + Computer Simulations = Enhanced Robotic Exoskeletons

Researchers have demonstrated a new method that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and computer simulations to train robotic exoskeletons to autonomously help users save energy while walking, running, and climbing stairs.

Advanced Medical PCB Tech: Precision Cleaning Challenges

With the evolution of PCB materials to meet the stringent demands of medical device applications, the challenge lies in effectively removing contaminants without compromising the integrity of delicate components. Read on to learn more about the process.

Pharma Manufacturing Unlocking the Power of Data Through Advanced Tracking and Analysis

Industry innovation is helping pharmaceutical manufacturers gain key insights into their products and processes by enabling them to effectively interpret data from every test given, even at mass volumes.

Product Showcase

See the products in the Product Showcase, including Omnetics’ Nano-D connectors, Cadence's complex medical devices, Formacoat's medical device coating application, the Lee Company’s Full Isolation Dual Seal Precision Dispense Pump, Ulbrich’s Braid Wire Accelerator® Program, and much more.

Thermally Engineering Templates for Highly Ordered Self-Assembled Materials

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Michigan Ann Arbor have developed a template material that carries almost no heat and therefore stops heat transfer between the template material itself and the solidifying eutectic material.

The Role of Photochemical Etching in Thermal Management

The PCE process efficiently manufactures precise metal parts for thermal management in micro electronic devices, ensuring high accuracy without stress or deformation. It handles diverse metals, creating tailored thermal solutions like heat sinks and TIMs for everything from smartphones to powerful computers.

Advancing Medtech Requires Advanced Battery Technology to Match

In the coming years, companies will continue to evolve ultrasonic metal welding technologies to answer the needs of an ever-changing field of medical devices and the batteries that power them. Developing new assembly technologies will maximize the performance and precision of ultrasonic metal welding to satisfy the new design, size, and power requirements of advanced-performance medical devices.

High-Efficiency Power Converter

A new electrical power converter design achieves a much higher efficiency at lower cost and maintenance than before. The direct current voltage boost converter is poised to be a significant contribution to the further development of improved electric and electronic components for healthcare devices.

Programmable Mixed-Signal Devices in Medical Applications

This article delves into the character istics of both GreenPAK and AnalogPAK (by Renesas), focusing on their individual capabilities and the embedded resources that can be fully leveraged for medical device design.

Wireless Pacemaker Offers Less Risk to Patients

While pacemakers have been instrumental in treating many patients with heart rhythm disorders, their bulky design and dependence on wires can limit their usefulness and poses a risk of heart...

New Products and Services

See the new products and services, including Seminex' high-power multichip module, a new technology from Renishaw that enables users of RenAM 500 series metal additive manufacturing systems to reduce build times by up to 50 percent, and Applied Motion Products' servo series engineered for high machine performance.

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.

Integrating Smart Technology into Wearable Device Design

With the combined benefit of the unique components and the component manufacturers’ assistance, electronics designers can achieve their objective of developing a well-protected, efficient, wearable medical device. The end result is a much more reliable and robust product for the customers.

Product of the Month

See the Product of the Month: Bosch Sensortec's two new MEMS accelerometers, the BMA530 and BMA580. Read on to learn more.