Medtec Innovation | Product collection provides a glimpse into medical device innovation trends

The 2023Medtec Medical Device Design and Manufacturing Industry Innovation Exhibition Shanghai Station was successfully held in Hall 2 of the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center from December 12th to 13th. Nearly 100+ medical device brands exhibited electronic components, materials, contract manufacturing, medical components, and R&D. Ten major categories including design services and 100+ products provide a glimpse into the new trends in industry development.

A glimpse into the big picture: the great achievements of precision injection molding in medical devices

One way to produce durable and reliable medical-grade components that meet FDA standards is through injection molding. However, the production of miniaturized and miniaturized medical components has put forward higher requirements for precision injection molding, of which precision injection molds are a crucial part.

"Compared with metal gears, plastic gears are favored by more and more customers due to their advantages such as lower cost, high degree of design freedom, better transmission efficiency, and low noise. However, if you want to produce strong It is not an easy task to make precision plastic gears that fully meet customer requirements in terms of performance, toughness, and precision.” Zeli’s engineering team will conduct detailed DFM (Design for manufacturability: Design for Manufacturability) reports with customers in the early stage. , the mold flow analysis in the early stage of design will confirm possible problems such as the position of the glue mouth, shrinkage deformation, exhaust, etc., and provide a mold flow analysis report. The factory then guides the entire production process of the mold in strict accordance with the engineering drawings and analysis reports. During this period, the engineering staff tracks the progress of the project throughout the entire process. After review, design, processing, assembly, mold trial, mold repair, it is finally submitted to the customer for acceptance. Since 2017, Zeli has become an injection molding parts supplier for many listed medical companies. Dozens of plastic parts such as medical equipment and medical consumables have been developed. And obtain ISO13485:2016 certificate in 2022.

Innovation drives the future of medical silicone rubber products

Silicone rubber materials have multiple advantages such as environmental protection, non-toxicity, safety, and good biocompatibility. In the medical field, after decades of clinical application, they have been recognized by the medical community and have gradually become the "first choice" for medical device production materials. Fragrant pastry." Currently, both developed and developing countries/regions are increasingly adopting medical-grade silicone rubber. According to the latest research report from Global Market Insights, the global medical grade silicone market will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 6% from 2022 to 2028.

At this Medtec Innovation Exhibition, Jinan Jiachuang brought innovative solutions to the current industry pain points. The company's account manager Jiang Zhaobin said in an interview that the improved design of the negative pressure drainage ball abandons the previous design where the upper and lower covers of the negative pressure ball need to be screwed into one body, and adopts a press-fit design of the upper and lower covers, which solves the problem. In the past, air leakage was prone to occur during use. In addition, the problem of easy adhesion of the one-way valve in the improved negative pressure drainage ball has also been solved. At present, the company's highly transparent, strong-suction negative pressure drainage bulbs include 6 models: 400ml with underpass, 400ml without underpass, 200ml with underpass, 200ml without underpass, 100ml with underpass, and 100ml without underpass. The minimum mark on the pressure ball capacity scale is 5ml. “This minimum label is very rare in the market and can provide practical convenience for medical staff’s work.”

Threaded pipes used in supporting products for ventilators and anesthesia machines also have hidden mysteries. Usually, threaded pipes are often bent when used, and it is difficult for gas to pass through the bends smoothly. To this end, Jinan Jiachuang has optimized the wall thickness of the round tube, the width of the threads, and the spacing between adjacent threads in the threaded tube, so that good ventilation is no longer limited by the usage status of the threaded tube, effectively ensuring the patient's safety safe to use. At present, Jinan Jiachuang has become an supporting product supplier for Mindray, Changfeng and Xiamen Chongren.

Embracing centralized procurement and embracing competition in the implantable device market

Haiwang Medical Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., located in the Jiangsu Medical Device Industrial Park in the Suzhou High-tech Zone, focuses on the development and production of medical polymer material products and is committed to providing various tubing materials and various types of medical sheaths to customers in the field of interventional medical devices. System solutions for pipes and conduits.

In the context of the introduction of a series of encouraging policies by the state and the improvement of the innovation capabilities of domestic enterprises, the pace of localization and substitution of implantable interventional medical devices in my country has been accelerating in recent years. According to the company's general manager Liu Jiyong, the further acceleration of the "domestic substitution" process is not only a development trend in the medical industry, but also an inevitable law of social development. The centralized procurement of medical consumables will accelerate this process, and "volume" will drive more industry participants to participate. At the same time, competition will also accelerate the pace of technological innovation. "Embrace centralized purchasing and embrace competition."

Looking for more breakthrough technologies is the goal of Haiwang Medical. Liu Jiyong is very optimistic about the application of dip coating technology and said that this technology can make products more precise and stronger. In addition, fluoroplastic alternatives and multifunctional microcatheters are technological directions worthy of attention and development in the future.

Ceramic 3D printing is popular in the medical field

The global 3D printing market has entered a period of rapid growth. The application of 3D printing in the medical field is highly mature and has high growth potential. Currently, more and more medical device and high-end equipment companies are using 3D printing technology in the product design and manufacturing process to make their products more mature. The design achieves the goals of miniaturization, integration and rapid iteration. Among medical 3D printing materials, in addition to the well-known polymer and metal materials, ceramic materials are increasingly favored by R&D engineers because of their unique physical and chemical properties. Ceramic materials have excellent biocompatibility and electrical insulation. It is corrosion-resistant and wear-resistant under extreme conditions, has good thermal conductivity, and will not shield electromagnetic waves.

Nie Pinxu, head of Bosch's advanced ceramics project, said that ceramic materials are currently mainly used in minimally invasive surgery, laparoscopic surgery, tumor ablation, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular treatment, and in vitro diagnosis. The products include bipolar electrocoagulation scissor heads, ablation needles, and pump valves. Shaft sleeves, implantable auxiliary treatment equipment, etc. In these application fields, ceramic 3D printing molding achieves the perfect combination of high complexity and precise tolerances, making product design more flexible, without the need for molds, rapid iteration, low minimum order quantity for proofing, and cost advantages in mass manufacturing.

Currently, Bosch Advanced Ceramics has developed a variety of ceramic products and technical solutions through cooperation with the world's leading medical device partners. In response to the dual design requirements of instruments that need to achieve ceramic insulation and electrical conduction, Bosch uses different coating materials to make the coating have low resistivity, high adhesion strength, precise plating lines, and controllable thickness. The coating is not limited by the ceramic structure, channels, and concavities. Both grooves and raised areas can be plated and the materials used meet biocompatibility requirements. For the miniaturization of product structures for minimally invasive surgeries, Bosch 3D printing can achieve special precision structures and high surface quality. The highest accuracy can be within +-0.05mm, and the lowest thickness can be 0.12mm. Ceramic materials are used to replace metal and polymer materials. Ensure surgery is safer and more efficient.

The road to domestic replacement of high-end nickel-titanium tubes is long and arduous

Zhijian Medical Technology (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., which focuses on the production of high-precision nickel-titanium tubes, has strong technical strength in this field. Chen Dingguo, the company's sales manager, said that the company currently has industry-leading nickel-titanium material processing technology and is committed to developing and producing high-precision medical nickel-titanium materials and nickel-titanium parts, providing professional solutions for medical device companies. Its technical and management teams, which come from well-known domestic and foreign companies and have been deeply involved in the industry for more than 10 years, are the core of the company.

It is reported that Zhijian Medical can stably produce 0.18-16.0 mm nickel-titanium tubes, and is the only manufacturer in China that can stably produce 5.0-16.0 mm large-diameter nickel-titanium tubes; under the same outer diameter conditions, its production The minimum wall thickness of small pipe diameters can be as low as 0.02mm, and the minimum wall thickness of large pipe diameters can be as low as 0.05mm; the minimum tolerance of the outer diameter of the nickel titanium pipes produced by the company is ±0.002mm, and the minimum tolerance of the wall thickness is ±0.003mm, reaching the leading level in the industry ; In terms of surface roughness, relying on the company's unique surface treatment process, the outer surface Ra ≤ 0.1 μm and the inner surface Ra ≤ 0.4 μm of the nickel titanium tubes produced.