Medical devices use several different types of plastic tubes to
enhance their performance. Some of the recent developments include
shrink tubing, multilayer, and radio opaque tubings. Microbore and
multilumen tubings have improved the performance of medical devices
several fold. However all these tubes have one common problem of
assembling when the tube is joined to a connector. To resolve this
problem 'Bubble Tubing' has been developed. Medical tubing produced
with an integral connector is referred to as 'Bubble or Taper Tubing'.
A simplest design is a tube with a short section of large diameter
that tapers to a longer section with small diameter. The end of
the large diameter section acts as a connector to another device
such as valve or fluid bag, while small diameter length is the functional
part of the tube. There are more complex designs available for Bubble
Tubing. However all these Bubble Tubings essentially replace moulded
parts solvent bonded to a tube. The benefits of these new tubes
are that they reduce labour cost for assembly work and eliminate
the defective parts due to improper connectivity. Additional benefit
arising out of this is cleanliness and smoother flow of fluid.
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