Bal Seal Spotlights Equipment Performance Solutions at Compamed

The event organizers for the annual Medica and Compamed trade fairs held in Dusseldorf, Germany, are quick to point out the enormous international reach of the event. It’s not just an European event, they’ll say. It’s a global meeting. Walking the halls of Medica and Compamed, it’s not hard to see why.

For example, Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based Bal Seal Engineering Inc. is exhibiting at Compamed to showcase its custom-engineered seals designed to protect high-speed rotary drive units for catheters used in vascular navigation, atherectomy, angioplasty and ablation procedures.

Made from a selection of medical-grade materials including virgin PTFE and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, the company’s seals are used to guard against the ingress of saline, blood and other fluids that can lead to motor failure in medical devices. Typically installed between the guide wire and distal portion of the device, the seals use a Bal Seal Canted Coil Spring energizer, which exerts a near-constant force over a wide deflection range to promote improved wear resistance and longer seal service life, even in speeds over 10,000 revolutions per minute, according to the company.

“Protecting a catheter’s drive motor is crucial,” said Julia Sevilla Perez, a medical market specialist who is representing Bal Seal at Compamed. “Exposing it to saline, blood or other fluids can lead to device failure, which could prolong or even impede a surgical process. The solutions we are demonstrating are designed specifically to address this.”

Perez said the company also makes advanced polymer materials, such as its SP45, exclusively for high-speed sealing. The high pressure-velocity values of SP45 make it suitable for sealing most media, including liquid, moisture, and gases at high speeds and low pressures, she added.

In addition to its facility in California, the company also has a location in Colorado Springs, Colo. It also has offices in Europe in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, along with Hong Kong and Japan in Asia. In medical electronics, the company focuses on cardiac healthcare management, neurostimulation and implantable sensing. In medical devices, Bal Seal has experience with orthopedic products, drug-delivery technology and other instrumentation.

At Compamed, the company is in Hall 8a, booth A30.