Interview: Medical and Clinical Diagnostics Equipment Market Trends 2021

Andy Selvy, Watlow’s Chief System Designer talks about the upcoming trends and developments in the medical and diagnostic equipment market and how Watlow is helping to overcome unique thermal challenges.

A few examples include the miniaturization of devices, increased throughput for diagnostic equipment and a shift towards point-of-care diagnostics focused on preventative care and faster medical decisions.

Introduction to Watlow and Andy Selvy

Since 1922, Watlow® provides leading medical device and clinical diagnostic equipment OEMs with proven solutions that enable exceptional thermal control. The company accomplishes this with rapid prototypes and leading thermal technologies that meet the most demanding product specifications. Watlow has developed a broad product offering, including heaters, sensors and controllers, all the components in an integrated thermal system, for medical and clinical equipment where uniform operating temperatures are required for effective performance.

Andy Selvy is Watlow’s chief system designer focused on layered heater technology and the medical, clinical and analytical business segment. He holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering and has worked at Watlow for 16 years.

Which future developments do you expect to see in the medical and clinical diagnostics market?

“There are several trends we see in this market, which create unique thermal challenges. A few examples include the miniaturization of devices, increased throughput for diagnostic equipment and a shift towards point-of-care diagnostics focused on preventative care and faster medical decisions. From the OEM customer perspective, we also see increased globalization efforts such as leveraging a single device in all regions of the world. This creates challenges with different global voltage requirements and increasingly stringent device safety standards.”

Which applications in medical and clinical diagnostics use Watlow’s thermal solutions?

“Watlow supports the world’s leading companies across a very broad set of applications in this market. Some of our top application areas for medical devices include kidney dialysis, contrast media warming, sterilization and respiratory therapy equipment. In clinical diagnostics we participate both in central lab applications such as immunoassay and clinical chemistry equipment as well as smaller device applications such as molecular diagnostics and genomics.”

How can Watlow’s products help in medical and clinical diagnostics equipment?

“I will give you an example speaking about enabling miniaturization and high performance. Our ULTRAMIC® advanced ceramic heater product enables incredible thermal performance up to 155 watts per square centimeter in a package size as small as 8 x 8 mm square and includes onboard sensing for closed loop temperature control. So advanced ceramic heaters allow equipment designers to free up room for new components, reduce the machine’s overall footprint, increase performance as well as simplify the manufacturing and assembly process.”