Medical Electronics

Joe Sawicki , executive vice president, IC EDA at Siemens, challenged the mutterings that Moore’s law has run its course, and said the semiconductor industry was blighted with pessimism. At this year’s DAC (Design Automation Conference) he set about looking at the figures in a new light. “There have been morose expectations and miserable prognostics, for like 20 years,” he reasoned, ...

Design demands include a decrease in device size, cost and power consumption, while improving accuracy, sensitivity and reliability, observes Bill Walsh of Digi-Key Electronics. Of the four common types of temperature sensors – thermocouples, resistance temperature devices, thermistors and temperature sensor ICs – temperature sensor ICs are a good option for contact-based medical and healthcare designs. Principally, they do not ...

Hot on the heels of CUI, Trumpower has introduced a brick-style 300W ac-dc adapter built around GaN transistors. This time for medical users. TGM300 series power adapters are Class II for IEC 60601-1-11 home healthcare needs. “The GaN FET line achieves a power density greater than 9W/in3 and has a withstand voltage of 4,000Vac from input-output – 2xMOPP – and ...

The modular and configurable power supplies are designed for integration into mission-critical systems. Among the range available for fast delivery from Farnell are the UltiMod series of UX4 and UX6 AC-DC modular power supplies. They have up to 91% efficiency and low acoustic noise. The UX4 delivers up to 600W and can be populated with up to four power modules. The ...

Imec is co-developing with Swiss medtech specialist NeuroGyn an implantable device for peripheral nerve stimulation. NeuroGyn specialises in neurostimulaton and surgical solutions for pelvic nerve disorders. Leveraging Imec’s expertise in ultra-low power wireless communication and powering, the new implant aims at prolonging the lifetime of the device while lowering its cost, making it suitable at the point of need. Clinical ...

For some medical applications, the reliability of components is vital. Shiraz Vakharia of Knowles highlights some of the application-specific decisions medical device designers need to make. In the medical industry, highly reliable electronic components are necessary for a variety of devices – ranging from systems that diagnose, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, to implantable devices that treat patients, such ...

Review Display Systems (RDS) has introduced a 13.3in TFT display module for industrial use. Made by Tianma, the P1330FHF1MA00 is an HD display 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, 16:9 aspect ratio) with in-plane switching. “Tianma P-series display modules have been designed and developed to deliver exceptional optical performance and meet the requirements of the industrial and medical display markets and applications ...

Analog Devices is aiming at wearable patient monitoring devices with an analogue front-end for four vital signs: electrocardiogram, heart rate, blood-oxygen saturation and respiration rate. The chip, MAX86178, does this with three channels, one each for: photodiodes (optical PPG for blood oxygen and heart rate), voltages (electrocardiogram (‘ECG’ or ‘EKG’) and alternative heart rate) and bio-impedance (‘bio-z’ for respiration rate) Optical ...

Anglia Components has broken ranks with other distributors targeting the UK’s start-ups and entrepreneurs and has launched a dedicated division, Anglia Unicorn, to put academic start-ups in touch with financial seeders and both in touch with skilled engineers who can make the vision a reality. Named after the mythical creature which eludes capture, a Unicorn company is a start-up that ...

Gowanda Electronics has introduced a series of non-magnetic RF inductors for medical imaging equipment – MRI and some x-ray machines – and other applications where magnetic materials must be avoided. Called 28MG, there are 60 devices spanning 1.2 to 18µH with resistances between 79mΩ and 4.15Ω, and carrying capacity of 315mA to 2.4A. They are all the same size, with bodies 23mm ...