Accelerometers for implantable medical device applications

Meggitt Sensing Systems has announced the expanded availability of the Endevco® 12M series, a family of highly compact, high-sensitivity surface mount piezoelectric accelerometers with no external power requirements, offering 20 years of proven pedigree for high-reliability acceleration measurements within high-volume, implantable OEM medical device and equipment applications.

Weighing just 120 mg and reliably operating in temperatures of up to +150°C, the Endevco® model 12M series features the incorporation of Meggitt’s own proprietary Piezite-type P-8 bimorph sensing element, operating in bender mode. This material offers low base strain sensitivity, low pyroelectric output and extremely high charge output versus size. Advanced manufacturing techniques and materials R&D have propelled Meggitt forward as an industry innovator in these types of piezoelectric sensing technologies. As a result, models within the Endevco® 12M series are routinely incorporated into implantable medical device designs to support such critical applications as patient activity indicators, cardiac pacemaker and defibrillator rate response, implanted pain management device monitoring, blood pressure monitoring, blood glucose monitoring, artificial joint pressure measurements and external and implanted drug therapy systems.

Since 1994, more than six million Endevco®12M series sensors have been successfully incorporated into medical devices, as a means of improving device quality and ultimately, patient care.