Functionalization of Medical Devices Using Additive Dispense Technology

Medical device designs are constantly evolving as the trend to make passive devices functional is taking over the market space. Using additive dispense technology, one can print conductive traces, sensors,and markers on a variety of different medical device products.The direct printing system, Micropen, is a CAD/CAM driven capillary dispensing tool akin to an ultra-precise micro-dispense gun. If a material is flowable and can be loaded into a syringe, the Micropen can print it onto virtually any surface. It’s a non-contact, additive printing technique that dispenses the precise amount of material needed. This makes it beneficial when using novel, expensive or rare inks. The efficient use of materials and the ease of changing them provides product designers with increased prototype control as well as reducing time-to-market. Direct printing is an ideal way to form many different patterns on 2D substrates giving them superior electrical characteristics. However, the capabilities of the Micropen don’t stop at 2D substrates. Printers have been designed with 5-axis of movement. This allows many different medical device form factors to be printed such as thin, flexible,irregular, and highly three-dimensional shapes.This talk will provide an overview of the Micropen additive dispense integration with a variety of products in the medical device arena.