Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Views
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

How Diversified Plastics and Carbon printers are enabling better medical supply transport

September 16, 2020 By Chris Newmarker

IQ-ler Thaddeus Medical Systems Diversified Plastics

The IQ-ler is meant to reliably transport temperature-sensitive medical supplies. [Image courtesy of Thaddeus Medical Systems, per Diversified Plastics]

Diversified Plastics (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) turned to Carbon printers and Digitial Light Synthesis technology to help startup Thaddeus Medical Systems create what it touts as more reliable active, smart cold-chain packaging.

Thaddeus — a five-year-old company in the Mayo Clinic’s home city of Rochester, Minn. — found that conventional 3D-printing or manufacturing methods were unable to create the complex, design-patented gyroid lattice structures needed for its IQ-ler. The IQ-ler is meant to reliably transport temperature-sensitive medical supplies and specimens such as expensive biological therapies, vaccines, blood and tissue samples.

The gyroid lattice structures inside the IQ-ler minimize vibration and shock and mazimize airflow in the payload, battery and sensitive electronic compartments.

“To find the right solution to manufacture these components, we tried parts made from several 3D printers, some very well-known brands. The prototypes from these 3D printers didn’t meet specifications and didn’t have a smooth surface finish,” said Dr. Steve Scully, founder of Thaddeus Medical Systems.

“The material for the gyroid lattice needed to be compliant, flexible and resilient to provide exceptional vibration damping with smooth-surface finish characteristics,” Scully said. “The only prototype parts that matched our specifications were manufactured using the Carbon DLS process, the core of DPI’s Acceleration Station.”

Carbon (Redwood City, Calif.) boasts a fast sterolithography printing technology with little impact on the growing part — coupled with a focus on using production-worthy materials and capturing data for better performance.

gyroid lattice structures IQ-ler Thaddeus Medical Systems

The gyroid lattice structures inside the IQ-ler [Image courtesy of Thaddeus Medical Systems, per Diversified Plastics]

Aliza Alverson, sales engineer at DPI, recalled that Thaddeus’ file sies for the gyroid lattice structure were intricate and large. “So, they worked with our in-house engineering team to make the design manufacturable using DPI’s Acceleration Station. We printed samples with different lattice sizes and material options, including EPU 40 and SIL 30, both of which are used for prototypes as well as production parts. The prototypes made from SIL 30 met the desired performance requirements.”

“One of the most exciting parts of our job as a contract manufacturer is to see the evolution of a part and the success of the product it goes into,” Alverson said.

Thaddeus is now working with Christian Brothers University fon product testing, such as vibration and drop tests compared to competitors’ products.

About The Author

Chris Newmarker

Chris Newmarker is the executive editor of WTWH Media life science's news websites and publications including MassDevice, Medical Design & Outsourcing and more. A professional journalist of 18 years, he is a veteran of UBM (now Informa) and The Associated Press whose career has taken him from Ohio to Virginia, New Jersey and, most recently, Minnesota. He’s covered a wide variety of subjects, but his focus over the past decade has been business and technology. He holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and political science from Ohio State University. Connect with him on LinkedIn or email at cnewmarker@wtwhmedia.com.

Related Articles Read More >

Qosina expands Saint-Gobain product offering through new distribution partnership
OKW touts Top-Knobs for medical electronics
A photo of Capstan Medical's mitral valve implant, which uses nitinol.
Capstan Medical’s R&D head discusses the heart valve and robotics startup’s tech, engineering challenges and solutions, advice for others in medtech and how to join his team
This is a Phillips Medisize marketing image of
Phillips Medisize launches TheraVolt medical connectors
“mdo
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest medical device business news, application and technology trends.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Views
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe