bmdo technologies for biomedical applications - MDA Technology

HIGH-ENERGY CAPACITORS TOHELP ZAP MICROBESBMDO HISTORYPurePulse Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Maxwell Technologies (SanDiego, CA), has developed a highly efficient FDA-approved method forkilling parasites, bacteria, and viruses in water, on the surfaces of medical andfood packaging, and in liquid foods. Dubbed PureBright ® and CoolPure ® ,the two systems deliver, respectively, microsecond bursts of intense light ora pulsed electric field to rupture the membranesof pathogenic microbes. Based onA major outbreak of waterborneCryptosporidiumadvanced high-energy capacitors, the systemsoffer kill rates 100 to 10,000 timesthose of conventional mercury lamp ultraviolettreatments. BMDO partially fundedoccurred in the summerdevelopment of these capacitors to produceof 1993, sickening about a compact, lightweight device that couldprovide pulsed power for space-based lasers400,000 people in the and accelerators.• PurePulse has introduced a fastand effective method for eliminatingdeadly bacteria, viruses, and othermicroorganisms.Milwaukee area. There isno effective treatment forthis parasite, which canalso be spread throughfoods, juices, and personalcontact. Water filtering andhand washing are goodpreventive measures.HOW IT WORKSCapacitors accumulate electrical charge andenergy on the surfaces of conducting platesthat are insulated from each other by adielectric material. Maxwell developed itscapacitors by using insulating materials witha higher dielectric constant, reducing thethickness of the insulating material, increasingthe voltage between the conductors, andreducing the thickness of the conductingplates. Through this combination, Maxwellsuccessfully produced its high-density thinfilmcapacitors, which have been used topower implantable cardiac fibrillators.PurePulse used this same technology todevelop its purification systems.84MEDICAL SIGNIFICANCEPureBright has been shown to kill the deadly Cryptosporidium, a recentlyresurgent pathogen in municipal water systems. Moreover, the organism iskilled in the oocyst phase, a particularly resistant stage in its life cycle.Viruses are also eliminated by the system. PureBright is designed to treatclear fluids, but it also effectively kills bacteria, mold spores, and viruses inair ducts and on filter surfaces. Used with ultraviolet-transmissive polymerssuch as polypropylene or polyethylene, PureBright can also sterilizesaline solutions in intravenous bags, making sterilization a one-stepprocess. Other applications include sterilizing packaged foods, decontam-Chapter 3 - Intervention TechnologiesSection B - TreatmentBMDO Technologies for Biomedical Applications