Industry:
US Medical Company
Application:
Wearable Electrostimulation device to aid in healing.
Opportunity:
The customer approached FCT with a design they were having trouble with. They had a patch that was adhered to the arm with hydrogel. Often the patch was failing after a single use. The customer came to FCT to gain assistance in developing a more robust design that would lead to many uses to offset the cost of the patch.
Solution:
FCT Engineers conducted a web-based call with customer engineers where we reviewed the current design, attained a clear understanding for the issues they were experiencing, while also developing a clear understanding for their desires, related to product performance and need to be utilized multiple times verses single use.
It was quickly apparent that the circuit design did not follow best practices. Specifically, they were no fillets where conductors intersected pads and they did not utilize the grain direction of the copper properly. In addition to this they had kept conductors to a minimum width based solely on electrical requirements and the materials selected were as thin as possible.
Offering deep expertise in wearable related applications while also having significant expertise in materials, material performance; FCT went to work for this customer. We redesigned the circuit layout to incorporate best practices. We also had them add a removal tab so the technicians removing these from the patient would have a consistent method that would prevent damage that allow for added longevity of the product. Further, we provided our recommendations for a material stack-up that would also help to make the product more robust. By addressing all of these key factors we were able to provide the customer with a design that exceeded their targeted multi-use requirements.
Result:
The resulting design yielded use numbers that exceeded what was desired.
