In the medical sector, more and more equipment and casings are glued together, rather than screwed or plugged. At BBraun, a leading manufacturer of medical technology and pharmaceutical products, a production step was recently examined by Supratec Syneo, a sales partner of the ViscoTec brand preeflow in France.

Problem Step

The production step in question involved applying an adhesive comprising cyanoacrylate and primer, which would combine to resemble conventional superglue. However, after every production stoppage on the production line, the operator of the plant had to intervene to replace the clogged dosing needle. A tremendous amount of time and material was required for this step. In addition, the bonding station was relatively difficult to clean.

Solution

The BBraun engineers wanted an alternative adhesive solution. Supratec Syneo developed the idea of switching to a UV-curing adhesive and using high-precision preeflow micro-dispensers. ViscoTec’s micro-dosing systems can enable dosing results of up to 0.001 mL to be achieved. In addition, the exact dosing accuracy of the volumetric dosing systems and the properties of the new adhesive resulted in no further cleaning step being necessary.

Another benefit is that the adhesive does not cure until it comes into contact with UV light. For example, if production is stagnating over the weekend, the operator can start the entire system the following week without problems and setup times, something that was never imaginable with the previous system. Previously, all nozzles had to be cleaned and all needles replaced before startup. ASI

For more information, visit www.viscotec.de. BBraun can be found online at www.bbraunusa.com.