What are the Benefits of Wearable Health Devices?
Wearable health devices have revolutionized the world’s approach to healthcare. Without stepping into a hospital or clinic, patients can monitor their sleep patterns, heart rate, blood pressure, glucose, and much more, giving them autonomy and enabling early diagnosis detection. Through greater awareness, preventative health is becoming more accessible to a wide range of people.
Testing Medical Devices
Wearable technology is extremely valuable, but it also presents risks if not thoroughly tested prior to market release. Environmental test chambers play a critical role in mitigating these risks. Chambers manufactured by Associated Environmental Systems (AES) help validate the reliability and safety of battery—and electronically powered medical devices, giving users the confidence they need. Discover how test chambers support product success and explore the models best suited for your application.
Why Are Test Chambers Essential for Verifying Wearable Health Devices?
Environmental testing is essential for the production of medical devices. Discover the benefits that help keep a device’s battery running smoothly and effectively:
- Safety and Performance: Wearable devices are exposed to diverse environments. From an indoor air-conditioned office to a humid hiking trail outdoors, they must withstand various temperatures without compromising safety and performance. Test chambers, though, can help prove products and their components' resilience and functionality.
- Meets Testing Requirements: Before entering the market, medical devices must meet strict regulatory and industry standards. Environmental testing helps manufacturers satisfy these requirements, including compliance with International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 60601-1, which sets the general requirements for electrical medical equipment's basic safety and essential performance, including batteries.
- Early Detection and Efficiency: Identifying issues during production, rather than after release, can prevent costly recalls, reduce downtime, and improve product reliability. Environmental test chambers help detect potential failures early in the development process, streamlining product timelines and accelerating time to market, all while maintaining high quality.
Selecting the Right Environmental Test Chamber
AES works hard to provide exceptional environmental test chambers. Explore our wide range of chambers that can prepare wearable health devices for entering the real world.
Humidity Chambers
Medical devices are often prone to malfunction when exposed to harsh environments. Have a clear understanding of how products perform with the support of a controlled temperature and humidity chamber. By simulating various moisture conditions, these systems can stress-test devices and give the user precise control over the conditions of the chamber. Benchtop, stackable, and walk-in room climate control chambers are available, depending on the lab size.
Battery Test Chambers
Medical devices rely heavily on safe batteries to power life-saving equipment. To ensure their reliability, lean on AES’s battery test chambers to test medical device battery form factors, such as cylindrical, pouch, and prismatic cells. Each chamber is rated to EUCAR level 7 to prioritize operator safety, and each safety feature is designed to first prevent and then mitigate in case of a battery thermal event (BTE). Various battery test chamber sizes, including benchtop chambers able to be double-stacked or reach-in models are available.
Temperature-Only Chambers
A temperature-only test chamber, also known as a thermal chamber, can ensure extreme temperature fluctuations don’t impact the durability of the wearable devices. From benchtops to walk-ins, rely on AES’s temperature control chambers to identify breaking points and durability by alternating between low and high temperatures.
Stability Chambers
Stability chambers, part of our LH series, help ensure product safety throughout the device’s shelf life. Each chamber conducts temperature and humidity cycling and steady-state testing to monitor changes in the device’s performance over time. Benchtop chambers and stackable designs are available.
Let’s Work Toward Modern Healthcare Together
As technology advances, wearable health devices will only continue to become more accessible. As AI continues to integrate its analytical capabilities into devices, users will be able to build connections and have actionable insights to make better decisions.
Together, we can work to transform modern healthcare. Contact a sales engineer at AES to learn more about our testing chambers for wearable medical devices and how we can help. Our chambers can assist in changing the future—one test at a time.
