Since our entrance into the medical interconnect market over 40 years ago, Amphenol Alden Products has supported a huge variety of projects and products — and all required deep technological expertise.
Over the years, we’ve refined and advanced that experience to become a strategic partner for medical device OEMs. As an interconnect company that understands the pros and cons of each available option, we deploy the best technology for every requirement.
Our Top Technologies
Amphenol Alden’s long history in the medical market gives us key insights into when and how different interconnect solutions should be deployed for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. Discover the technologies enabling our unbeatable outcomes.
Coaxial Cables
Certain applications such as power-over-RF (for tumor ablation) or high-speed data (for 4K UHD imaging systems) may be best served electrically with coax contacts and cable bundles. However, this sometimes presents tradeoffs at the expense of mechanical and environmental requirements.
Our team understands the interplay of these considerations-— for example, improved/optimized high-speed data transmission at the expense of larger bend radii. Perhaps most importantly, we provide clear, experienced guidance to help your team navigate these challenges. It’s just one more way we differentiate ourselves from the competition
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Hybrid Interconnects
We’ve been developing hybrid interconnects for as long as we’ve been servicing medical device OEMs.
Our solutions integrate different types of electrical conductors — such as signal, power and RF conductors — with conductors for other physical mediums, such as fluidic, pneumatic and optical mediums.
Our hybrid interconnects reduce the complexity of system set-up, tear-down and use during procedures. That means nurses, doctors and caregivers can maintain focus on the patient. Our understanding of the interplay between these different mediums and their inherent design constraints allows us to create single, unified, harmonious interconnect packages.
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High Voltage Assemblies
Medical device OEMs whose product applications span imaging, including X-ray and Computed Tomography (CT) scanners, laser-based (Helium-Neon aka HeNe) therapeutic devices, defibrillators and pulsed-field ablation (PFA) all rely on Amphenol Alden.
Enabled by our deep understanding of product design, plastics, rubbers and bonding of dissimilar materials, we've achieved sufficient electrical isolation with smaller spaces and higher operating voltages. As a leader in this field, our competition may imitate our product, but they never replicate our success.
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Fiber Optic Solutions
Illumination
Fiber optic interconnect solutions play vital roles in the medical field, from light delivery for illumination of the surgical site in endoscopic procedures to data transmission for devices such as optical pressure sensors, IVUS systems and endoscopy 4K UHD camera systems. Although we can provide fiber optic products based solely on COTS fiber optic components, our primary focus is on integrating fiber optic solutions and electrical conductors into a single cable assembly.
Our solutions enable devices to multitask — for example, illuminating the surgical site through the fiber optic bundle while also transmitting all the high-speed data required for the camera system in one connector system and cable assembly.
Data Transmission
When high-speed data requirements — such as operating frequency, transmission distance and insertion-/ return-loss — exceed what electrical conductors such as twisted-pair, low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) wire and coax can accommodate, it’s time to consider fiber-optic-based solutions.
While system architectures built around optical data transmission are an obvious choice, fiber optic interconnects can be integrated into more traditional analog architectures with the use of Transmitter Optical Sub-Assemblies (TOSAs) and Receiver Optical Sub-Assemblies (ROSAs). Benefits of data transmission via fiber optic solutions include:
- Interconnects in smaller packages.
- Immunity from EMI/RFI noise.
- Improved energy efficiency for the devices
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High Density Assemblies
We’re adept at the termination of fine gauge wires in the 44-gauge coax and smaller realm. This takes a unique set of skills and processing equipment to ensure robust termination, wiring strain relief and more to ensure durable assemblies and extended product service life.
We understand the interplay of many discrete lines of data contained in a single cable assembly, including challenges such as crosstalk, noise and signal interference. We use this information to guide design selections in terms of contact, spacing, wire type, insulations and everything else that has a direct impact on the signal integrity. This ensures that your signal arrives with precision.
We’re also capable of achieving industry-leading pitch tightness in an overall smaller interconnect size for products like ultrasound and high-density catheters. Our solutions are easier to fit onto capital equipment, take up less space and often reduce power requirements for the net system.
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High Cycle Life
Amphenol Alden offers multiple standard and custom solutions for applications requiring a high mating cycle life, which generally means a mating cycle life of > 5000 mates. Leveraging our portfolio of sister companies and third-party partners, our products can achieve 25,000 thousand mating cycles. Additionally, we ensure the key product features — such as electrical transmission, contact resistance, current rating and corrosion resistance — are the same at the end-of-life as they were at the initial mate.
But “high cycle life” can also refer to durability and resilience, including cable flexing, drop-impact resistance, crush resistance, environmental and chemical resistance and more. We check all of these boxes with meticulous materials selection and expertise beyond contact technology.
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