Circad Assists OrganOx® In Transforming Liver Transplantations
Posted on 9th May 2015
Circad has been retained for the electronics design, development and electronics manufacture of the medical electronics systems for a device that allows the transport and preservation of warm livers for up to 24 hours prior to transplant.
OrganOx® Limited is a medical device development company founded in April 2008 with the objective of increasing the quality and supply of organs for transplantation.
Their first-generation product, the OrganOx metra™, is currently being used in UK, Europe and Canada with trials in the US planned for 2015. The device will enable the preservation of livers at 37 degrees Celsius for up to 24 hours prior to transplantation.
The electronics system controls the supply of oxygen and nutrition by monitoring the blood flow, arterial and venous pressure, temperature and blood gas O2 and CO2 levels. The electronic design and manufacture for the first-generation machine were undertaken by several parties. Circad were introduced to Organox to improve the integration of these subsystems, to streamline the design and manufacturing process and to build in low-cost manufacturability.
Since starting to work with Organox in June 2014, Circad has reviewed the electronic design, highlighted weaknesses and started a phased re-design. They now undertake the PCB assembly in-house and provide a one stop solution for PCB design and manufacturing.
Initially the scope was to solve a number of development issues where there were problems related to communications between pcb’s, and to redesign PCB layouts to achieve lower cost manufacturing for the first generation machine. Now Circad are creating totally new elements for the second generation machine, redesigning and improving the existing designs as well as building in low cost manufacturability.
The OrganOx Research and Development Manager, Daniel Voyce, took on responsibility for the electronics development in September 2014. He affirms the benefit of working with Circad: “Their experience and expertise is fantastic, and they are very good at communicating design ideas. When you work with larger companies it’s like throwing the design over the wall; working with Circad is very much a two-way design process. I feel like I’m part of one design team rather than in the normal client/contractor relationship.”
Daniel concludes “Circad provide massive added value through providing excellent R&D capability, huge amounts of experience in design, and excellent strength in manufacture. They are very much a one stop shop for us.”
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