PulseWave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The simple fact that “failure is not an option” makes the design of medical products qualitatively different than that of other types of products.  Laparoscopic surgical devices are no exception.

Challenge:

Cardinal Healthcare contacted us when they had a seemingly insurmountable problem:  what to do with a technology that was both incomplete and, from a functional perspective: already “boxed-in”?  While Cardinal had a viable technology demonstrator for the PulseWave  Laparoscopic Irrigation System:  what they needed was productization, and fast!  Reliable coupling, robust electrical connections and switch provisions were completely absent from the technology.

Solution:

Within eight months, CAD completed design, engineering and production tooling which even included bilingual operator support for assembly operators.  Our design of the product’s disposable handheld “trumpet” valve featured fingertip control of fluid flow and colored valve buttons for quick differentiation between suction and irrigation functions; revised the disposable cassette to include an asymmetrical “one-way to dock it” bayonet for an intuitive, fast and reliable connection to the pump body.  The bayonet design included self-renewing electrical connections for the new integrated handpiece electrical switch. 

The Pulse Wave has since been an overwhelming success and has won the coveted Cardinal Tech Council Excellence award.  Better still is how this product ultimately helped surgeons worldwide perform their minimally-invasive miracles and help our customer’s bottom line prognosis.