Case Studies: Medical Ultrasonic Welding

Case study number 1, exemplified in Figure 1, shows that it is possible to precisely cut/core a wide variety of shapes through hollow flexible plastic tubing, in this case an ovoid aperture was precisely punctured through a catheter. In addition, the application of a vacuum through the hollow sonotrode would allow the plastic debris, which has been cut, to be extracted and accounted for within a waste reservoir. The consequences of unaccounted for shard of plastic, remaining within a catheter, could have drastic clinical implications. Other applications include the cutting of semi-solid materials such as creams, ointments, polymeric films and even foodstuffs

Case Study 2 showcases the Bovine Genus Heat Detector, which is a device designed to inform a farmer when his herd is in season. Between 50-70% of oestrus behaviour occurs during the hours of darkness, which means that a farmer could miss many cows which are in season and so minimize his chances of successful breeding. The technology consists of a canvas pouch containing a plastic reservoir and a red dye. The plastic reservoir possesses a narrow opening of 0.1 mm in diameter, which connects the reservoir (and therefore the dye) to the interior of the canvas pouch.