Is Your Device Resistant to Fluidic Expansion? is featured in the November 29, 2018 online edition of Medical Product Outsourcing (MPO). The exclusive guest article is written by StarFish Medical Mechanical Engineering Team Lead, Nigel Syrotuck.
Subtitled “Don’t ignore the effects of liquid thermal expansion on any medical device that may contain fluids”, the article notes that “many devices employ microfluidic systems that contain liquids with very little extra room for expansion” and “it is common that sealed fluidic systems undergo thermal fluctuations. This can result in very intense pressures that can cause the chamber, or microfluidic pathway, to burst”.
Syrotuck provides readers assistance: “This article examines a two-step method to estimate the direct effects the thermal expansion of water will have on your system, and help to understand what you’re dealing with.”
He concludes with this caution: “Don’t ignore the effects of liquid thermal expansion on any medical device that may contain fluids. Even a cursory check of the fluidic pressure against your base material is well worth the time to review. If a more complex analysis is needed, this article and some clever FEA should provide you with a tool to estimate the potential effects.”
Previous MPO articles written by Syrotuck include: 7 Considerations for Designing Medical Device Mechanisms, Graphene: Manufacturing Methods and Medical Potential and How to Choose Fasteners for Your Medical Device.
Nigel Syrotuck is a StarFish Medical Mechanical Engineer and frequent contributor to the StarFish blog and guest blogger for medical device media including MD+DI, Medical Product Outsourcing, and Medtech Intelligence. He injects humour and imagination into projects big and small and blogs on everything in-between.