Design complexity, as well as time and cost pressures, led to the ubiquitous use of simulation for designing medical electronics products.
Although medical electronics is not a particularly new field, it has really come of age in the last decade or so, in terms of volume growth as well as complexity of devices. Aging populations, rising healthcare costs, and the need for access to medical diagnosis and treatment in remote and emerging regions have spurred the demand for portable and reliable medical devices. The proliferation of smarter, faster, and smaller electronic devices in the consumer space has further boosted this demand.
Some of the new medical product announcements made during CES 2015, including chip-enabled insulin injectors and muscle strength analyzers to determine the effectiveness of a workout, showed the complexity and range of applications in medical electronics. Most importantly, it revealed the burgeoning demand for such products. Companies in this space are under tremendous pressure to not only bring out the most unique products, but to release new versions much faster than ever before.
From an engineering point of view, medical electronics is a very complex area given that it presents a confluence of several disciplines –medicine, biology, electronics, as well as practically all branches of physics including fluid flow, electromagnetics, structural mechanics, and acoustics to name a few. Some of the most important design considerations with respect to medical devices are portability, power management, miniaturization and integration, connectivity for remote patient monitoring, and perhaps most notably, quality and reliability.
Design complexity, as well as time and cost pressures, led to the ubiquitous use of simulation for designing medical electronics products. Tools such as COMSOL Multiphysics® give users the ability to simulate the product first in order to see how it will behave in a real-life situation. It allows them to model different environmental factors and to couple many types of physics, which are simultaneously solved to evaluate product performance with a high degree of accuracy.
There are several excellent examples of companies from around the globe who are using simulation tools to develop medical devices:
One such example is the research being conducted by the French Atomic and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA LIST) to investigate miniature phase-change actuators that will reduce the strain placed on surgeons during long procedures. Robotic devices for minimally invasive surgical procedures require flexible tools and careful actuation. But most robotic surgery devices are bulky, expensive, and physically draining for surgeons to operate for long periods of time. Researchers at CEA LIST have been able to simulate a phase-change microactuator that can deliver high loads and range of movement that could be integrated into a portable robotic surgical tool used in the operating room.
Yet in another example of research by Clemson University and Tokyo Electron, simulation aids researchers in understanding how unevenly-shaped cells rapidly form patterns under an applied electric field. This method, called dielectrophoresis (DEP), can be used for a wide range of applications including early stage drug development and testing as well as the nanoscale assembly of materials for electronics and medical applications. Simulation helped the researchers better understand the physical processes governing DEP. Drawing from the investigation of DEP for complex biological systems could also produce novel bio-inspired methods for enhancing the capabilities of tools for the semiconductor industry.
In India too, companies are also using simulation tools to design medical devices that address some of the unique requirements of the region. The medical device industry in India is expected to reach the 5 billion dollar mark, thereby clocking a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 15 percent, according to a study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) released in July 2014. However, the study also cautioned that the medical device industry in India is facing severe challenges of inadequate quality standards coupled with huge reliance on imports and other related hassles, creating obstacles for new product development. The Indian government’s “Make in India” initiative coupled with the National Policy on Electronics can help overcome some of the challenges.
As India moves up the medical device manufacturing value chain, there will be an increased focus on technology innovation. The Indian medical engineering ecosystem will also benefit greatly from the use of simulation tools to streamline R&D efforts.
