Medical device motors face the hardest demands
In medicine the demands on a drive are higher than almost anywhere else.
A surgical hand tool needs high torque and high speed from a motor a few millimetres across, with almost no heat against tissue and no vibration the surgeon can feel. An implantable pump has to deliver medication reliably for years inside the body. A sterilisable drive in a surgical robot has to come through hundreds or thousands of autoclave cycles without losing precision. An operating table or imaging column has to lift heavy offset loads smoothly and stay maintenance-free for its service life. Precision, power density, sterilisability, and service life pull against each other, and the right balance changes with every device. That is why the motor, gearhead, encoder, and controller have to be sized to the exact application, not pulled off a shelf.
DNH supplies maxon, Parvalux, and Phoenix Mecano drives across Southern Africa and works with engineers to match the component to the device.
Common challenges
Drives are autoclaved hundreds or thousands of times and must hold precision.
Surgical tools and implants need high torque and speed from a tiny, low-heat motor.
Surgical robotics, haptics, and imaging fail if the motion cogs or vibrates.
Pumps, ventilators, and implants run continuously and must be fail safe.
Products and solutions
Three brands in the DNH portfolio have a documented fit for medical technology.
Gearheads, encoders, and controllers are supplied alongside the motors as part of the same drive system.
Brushed and brushless DC motors, micro drives and sterilisable drive systems
Precision drives for surgical robots and hand tools, ventilators and intensive-care systems, active implants, infusion and insulin pumps, and prostheses. The brushless ECX SPEED runs at up to 120 000 rpm, with a sterilisable version that withstands up to 2000 autoclave cycles.
Surgical systems & robotics | Active implants | Pumps & medication delivery | Rehabilitation & prosthetics
AC, brushed DC, and brushless DC geared motors, standard or custom-built
Geared motor drives for air pumps and ventilators and for medical and fluid pumps. With more than seven decades of motor design and UK manufacturing, Parvalux supplied ventilator and surgical-pump consortia during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its geared motors are now in hospitals and healthcare facilities globally.
Pumps & medication delivery
Linear actuators, lifting columns, electric cylinders, and lift systems
Linear motion and positioning for operating tables, examination tables, operating chairs, imaging systems, and mobile X-ray machines, with medical-standard lifting columns, control keypad mounts, and picking systems. The columns are maintenance-free for their service life and comply with most major medical standards.
Medical equipment positioning & imaging
Proven in the field
Arcoma AB: operating tables and imaging
Phoenix Mecano | Medical equipment positioning & imaging
Arcoma standardised its X-ray imaging and operating-table systems on Phoenix Mecano lifting columns, proven across thousands of installations worldwide. DNH supplies the same Phoenix Mecano linear technology into Southern Africa.
Solutions for tomorrow AB: mobile X-ray
Phoenix Mecano | Medical imaging
Solutions for tomorrow builds mobile X-ray systems on Phoenix Mecano linear technology, bringing digital radiography to the point of care.
Sterilisable, cleanroom-built drives
maxon | Surgical systems
maxon builds its medical drives in cleanroom conditions and offers sterilisable ECX SPEED versions that withstand up to 2000 autoclave cycles for surgical, implant, pump, and prosthetic applications.
Critical-care manufacturing during COVID-19
Parvalux | Ventilators & pumps
Parvalux geared motors went into new ventilators and surgical pumps built by leading consortia during the pandemic, and are now in use in hospitals and healthcare facilities globally.
