Medical Design Briefs - October 2023 - 49

high-quality surface finish that improves
a part's corrosion resistance, sterility, and
performance, while also saving manufacturers
time.
These advantages, however, come with a
few caveats:
* By relying on an electrochemical reaction
as opposed to heat or friction, PECM will
not work on nonconductive materials, including
plastics or ceramics.
Surgical stapler anvil pockets machined via PECM.
A good example highlighting the advantages
of PECM's capabilities can be
found when comparing the machining
processes for surgical stapler anvils,
which require tough materials, precision
machining, and high-quality surfaces
down to <0.1 µm Ra, or 3.9 µin Ra.
The surface quality of the anvil pockets
largely dictates the success of the staples to
successfully close the wound (as opposed
to misdirected or crumpled staples).
These features, therefore, require manufacturing
processes capable of both machining
and finishing these unique, sensitive
features on tough materials with a
high level of efficiency and repeatability.
In addition, some manufacturing processes
capable of this feat, such as coining,
require the material to be in an annealed
state before manufacturing and
the impact forces during the process
could wear or damage the features on
both the part and the die if the part is
hardened. This issue is exacerbated by
the thin-walled features between each
anvil pocket, which are particularly sensitive
to both manufacturing process forces.
Furthermore, the heat treatment step
in and of itself can lead to distortions in
the part's geometry.
PECM's capabilities, however, can be advantageous
for machining not only the
unique features of surgical stapler anvils,
but on other complex medical devices
such as orthopedic implants. PECM may
be able to save resources by allowing certain
parts to be machined after hardening,
as opposed to taking the additional time
needed for heat treatment. Furthermore,
PECM's lack of contact or heat allows it to
machine sensitive areas of a given part
without compromising tolerances.
* Finally, PECM also machines and finishes
a part simultaneously - providing a
* PECM often requires a high initial investment
for iterative development of a custom
tool (cathode), making it unideal for
low-volume or rapid prototyping work.
As the medical device manufacturing
industry continues to innovate in the
form of improved tolerance requirements
and an increased usage of advanced
materials, manufacturers should
consider the merits of a nonconventional
material removal process like PECM,
especially as part volumes increase on
high-demand parts. The distinctive features
of PECM, including its ability to
machine tougher alloys and sensitive areas
of a part, may be advantageous for
the industry's growth in coming years.
This article was written by Kirk Gino
Abolafia, Technical Marketing and Sales
Manager at Voxel Innovations, Raleigh,
NC. Voxel specializes in the development
of pulsed electrochemical machining,
a noncontact, nonthermal material
removal method. Voxel is expected to
obtain ISO 13485:2016 in Q4 2023. For
more information, e-mail kirk.abolafia@
voxelinnovations.com or visit www.
voxelinnovations.com.
Pocket-Sized Device Could Spot Infected Wounds Faster
The app-controlled device
uses heat signatures and
bacterial fluorescence.
Frontiers
Lausanne, Switzerland
Scientists have developed a device
that works with a smartphone or tablet
to capture medical images that
can identify infected wounds. By capturing
the heat produced by a wound
and the fluorescence of bacteria, it
helps clinicians tell the difference between
inflammation and a potentially
dangerous infection. This could allow
for quicker intervention, catching inMedical
Design Briefs, October 2023
fections before they become serious
threats to health.
It's notoriously difficult for doctors
to identify a wound that is becoming infected.
Clinical signs and symptoms are
imprecise and methods of identifying
bacteria can be time-consuming and inaccessible,
so a diagnosis can be subjective
and dependent on clinician experience.
But infection can stall healing or spread
into the body if it isn't treated quickly,
putting a patient's health in grave danger.
An international team of scientists and
clinicians thinks they have the solution: a
device run from a smartphone or tablet
app which allows advanced imaging of a
wound to identify infection.
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
" Wound care is one of today's most expensive
and overlooked threats to patients
and our overall healthcare system, " says
Robert Fraser of Western University and
Swift Medical Inc., corresponding author
of the study published in Frontiers in Medicine.
" Clinicians need better tools and data
to best serve their patients who are unnecessarily
suffering. " 1
n Shedding Light on Injuries
The scientists developed a device
called the Swift Ray 1, which can be attached
to a smartphone and connected
to the Swift Skin and Wound software.
This can take medical-grade photographs,
infrared thermography images
49
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