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June 2003 |
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NEW USES FOR ESTAGRIP® SOFT-TOUCH OVERMOLDING
TPEs BECOME THE HEARTBEAT OF PRODUCT DESIGN |
CLEVELAND, OH - Cardiac arrest can strike anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. It is sudden “electrical chaos” in the heart that can come without warning and prevents normal pumping of blood. With every minute that goes by, survival rates decrease by about 10%. That leaves a window of ten minutes in which to potentially save your life or the lives of your loved ones, after which survival rates are less than 2%. One of the leading causes of death among American adults, sudden cardiac arrest kills approximately 225,000 people a year. Two out of every three deaths happen outside of the hospital. Medtronic Physio-Control makes lifesaving tools for lifesaving teams. Ever since they first pioneered defibrillation technology nearly 50 years ago, their LIFEPAK® products have embodied a tireless commitment to innovation, quality and reliability. Hospitals, emergency medical services, targeted responders, and other trained providers rely on their products every day, in the toughest cardiac emergencies. Because their customers are also partners in saving lives, Medtronic Physio-Control is the world's leading manufacturer of easy-to-use, portable heart defibrillators. Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are about the size of a portable laptop computer and provide brief, but powerful, electrical stimulation to a person's chest, interrupting the cardiac arrest and helping to restore the heart's natural rhythm. AEDs are routinely used by emergency medical technicians, firefighters, hospitals and ambulance services around the globe. However, Medtronic Physio-Control’s newest AED – the LIFEPAK® CR Plus – is breaking new ground. “This particular product is designed for stadiums, businesses, office buildings and schools, where medical personnel might not be immediately available,” explains Richard Cardin, Medtronic Physio-Control’s Sr. Mechanical Engineer. “The LIFEPAK® CR Plus sits on the wall just like a fire extinguisher, so that anyone can grab it quickly for use in an emergency situation. As a result, it was important to design the product to ensure ease-of-use, reliability and durability.” Team effort is critical to success
More than a year in development, the LIFEPAK® CR Plus AED has a complex design that incorporates 5 parts and eliminates the need for 59 additional parts in the finished case. According to David Kosanke, Process Engineer, Accurate Molded Plastics, the project is one of the most challenging he has seen in 23 years of injection molding experience. “This design program really pushed the envelope,” Cardin explains. “We molded a tremendous number of parts into the finished piece, eliminating part handling and assembly steps, creating time and cost efficiencies. The extensive use of overmolding – more than I’ve ever seen done in one project – left no margin for error. Fortunately, we involved a material supplier and a material we could count on.” Noveon joined the team before the tooling was started,
making the project a collaborative effort from the start. Noveon’s
technical group was involved in the entire design-review process, making
recommendations on how its EstaGrip® thermoplastic (TPE) soft-touch
overmolding technology should be considered in part designs and tooling.
In addition to its traditional use as a shock-absorber, there were other
innovative ways that EstaGrip® TPE was used to advance the product’s
implementation and improve its chances for success. EstaGrip® TPE is a lifesaver “EstaGrip® TPEs were specifically developed for the toughest applications,” says Elliott Pritikin, Noveon’s Sr. Market Manager. “High-abuse products, like emergency medical equipment, require a level of reliability that truly differentiates this patented EstaGrip® TPE technology. While others often fail to ensure a lasting grip, EstaGrip® TPE technology meets the most stringent performance standards to minimize the risk of product failure. The collective creativity from the Medtronic-Physio, Accurate Molded Plastics, and our application engineering & business development folks delivered EstaGrip® TPE utility beyond even our concepts. It was an ideal choice for the new AED project.” The EstaGrip® TPE system unites soft, flexible elastomer overmolds with a variety of rigid substrates, including polycarbonates (PC), PC/ABS, styrenics, polyesters, vinyls, polyamides and TPUs. EstaGrip® TPE provides adhesion capabilities that are unprecedented in the industry, bonding overmold to substrate without the need for chemical adhesives or mechanical interlocks. The EstaGrip® TPEs ensure a highly resilient, soft feel even in the most frigid climates. The advanced surfaces resist abrasion, scratching, oil and grease, providing unmatched durability. EstaGrip® TPEs readily accept a broad array of pigments that add to the system’s design flexibility. In addition to providing the AED with added durability, the EstaGrip® TPE overmolding proved to be remarkably versatile, bringing many benefits to the project that were unforeseen at the outset. The resiliency and excellent flow characteristics made EstaGrip® TPE an ideal choice for use on many features designed into the case, including the moisture seal between the two case halves. This eliminated the need for Medtronic Physio-Control to purchase and install separate components to the unit, minimizing assembly steps and saving money. EstaGrip® TPE was also used to mold several other features inside the AED case, including: the speaker mounting (the speaker coaches users through machine operation); the snap-fit feature that holds the on/off switch in place; the integral spring that allows the case to open easily; wire routing guides to secure the wires during assembly; and the non-skid feet that keep the unit from sliding while it is in use. Not only did the team use EstaGrip® TPE for many functional purposes, they also used the overmolding for a more decorative purpose – to create the icons and graphics that appear on the case. This eliminated the need for additional processes or components for pad printing or labeling, resulting in additional efficiencies. Upon completion of the AED design, EstaGrip® TPE was used for more than 19 different applications. “It’s amazing how many uses we found for the EstaGrip® TPE material during the course of this project,” says Cardin. “Without the EstaGrip® TPE, we would have had to install each of those components separately. Instead, Accurate was able to shoot all the parts in one operation, saving us time and money. Our goal is to make each new product more intuitive, more complete and less costly, so that more lives can be saved in more places more often.” For more information on EstaGrip® TPE soft-touch overmolding technology, contact Noveon, Inc. at 888-234-2436 or visit www.estagrip.com. To discuss this project further or utilize the expertise of this molder, contact Accurate Molded Plastics at 208-765-3000 or visit www.accurateplastics.com. To learn more about the life-saving advantages of AEDs, contact Medtronic Physio-Control at 1-800-442-1142, or visit www.medtronic-ers.com or www.aedhelp.com.
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