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24 The PCB Magazine • November 2014 Role of PCBs in Medical Devices Almost every medical device PCB is heav- ily influenced and constrained by the work of other disciplines. It is rare that a board can be designed without heavy consultation through- out the design cycle with mechanical engineers or industrial designers. There is usually no clear owner to the mechanical constraints of a PCB. A board outline may be proposed, then shoe- horned as the housing design gets hashed out. Rearranged as the main, large components, connectors and things get roughly placed; it will be tweaked again by the mechanical engi- neers or industrial designers. Finally the PCB designer will add their final touches and throw it back. This process is highly iterative and relies more and more on accurate 3D modeling of the board, connectors and wiring. PCBs are structural elements with all sorts of great mechanical properties: they are fairly rig- id, they're pretty strong and their tolerances are often excellent. The collaboration doesn't stop there either. Whoever is doing the firmware, software and logic design will also have some strong opinions about the board. It's best to get everyone together early and often to minimize the chance of later rework or worse. PCBS FOR MEDICAL APPLICATIONS—A DESIGNER'S PERSPECTIvE continues figure 1: Custom-designed 8-layer PCb for a special purpose, multi-channel ultrasound system PCb. figure 2: light treatment technology non-inva- sively accelerates early wound healing, implant loading and bone regeneration following oral sur- gery and dental implants.