Electronics Power-efficient design
For Horrell, the most obvious reason for miniaturising implantable or wearable devices is their need to fit on the body without interfering with users’ daily life. With larger devices, potential challenges may concern portability and squeezing them into already crowded environments, such as intensive care units or ambulances, where space is limited alongside critical equipment. Plus, he points out: miniaturisation usually means not much room for batteries, so power-efficient design becomes even more critical. “With careful system design, engineers can eliminate unnecessary functionality and provide hardware power-saving features – these might include the means to power down subsystems when not in use, or dynamically changing processor clock speeds to match workload. There is also capacity for alternative power delivery methods such as energy harvesting or wireless power transfer,” says Horrell.
He adds: “Software has a huge impact on system power demand, meaning efficient, power-aware implementation is vital – software and hardware development need to be very closely coupled to achieve this.”
There are other practical concerns here, too. For instance: consider the challenge of bonding rigid components to a flexible substrate. “It’s tricky to get electronic chips to bond reliably to flexible substrates,” says O’Mahony. “There’s less room for error as the substrate is bending and you get stresses at the junction between the flexible and rigid parts.” How can this be overcome? O’Mahony explains: “Emerging fabrication technologies will use printing techniques to deposit integrated circuits on flexible organic substrates. In contrast to conventional, rigid silicon devices, these polymer-based chips are inherently bendable and/or stretchable, reducing the stresses at bond junctions where the chips are interfaced to the substrate.”
Sustainable solutions
Sustainability is something many experts agree is a pressing concern, particularly where medical devices are single-use. Caldicott appreciates the benefits of these devices for both patients and facilities – for instance, Crohn’s patients often take biologic infusions at home – but also recognises the disadvantages from a reusability perspective. While these devices are often plastic, electrical resources are also commonly used and then disposed of, leading Caldicott to consider their carbon footprint “a major challenge”. Caldicott’s firm mainly operates within acute settings. “Devices used within this clinical setting are reusable and getting smaller, but the electronics and medical engineering team can still provide full-life managed services for them. There are more discrete components,
which should actually lower costs maintenance-wise.” Similarly, O’Mahony has sustainability on the mind – and thinks others should, too. Based at a centre with an interest in wound care, he gives the example of embedding thin, flexible electronics into dressings to monitor wound conditions: “The problem here is it’s disposable, hazardous biowaste that must go straight in an incinerator. Many of the batteries are also hazardous waste, so can’t even be incinerated. How do we dispose of a hazard we can’t incinerate?” According to O’Mahony, the difficulties in disposing of single-use devices is a widespread concern among device companies. “Using them is a brand decision – but a dangerous one,” he warns. “It’s why not many of these products are on the market... for companies, the choice is: ‘Do we deploy this technology, or wait for a sustainably better output, and better materials and facilities with organic materials that require less waste?’”
Don’t forget the end user But Caldicott’s main piece of advice for manufacturers is to engage more with end users, asking how they can future-proof their devices. “We’re getting there for some devices but still have one foot in the past,” he says.
He gives an example: in his workplace, the Royal Surrey County Hospital, clinicians are still physically writing out data. However, in the coming years he expects that there will be a gradual move to storing and sharing data electronically. Consultants are likely to shift to viewing scans, analysing trends from vital signs monitors and even setting up infusion devices remotely. Miniaturisation certainly poses challenges for manufacturers, but it’s a trend that is set to shape the future of the field. Through smart planning and collaboration, the design and manufacturing processes can be made smoother. ●
Medical Device Developments /
www.medicaldevice-developments.com 51
The main reason for miniaturising wearable devices is their need to fit on the body without interfering with the user’s daily life.
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