When we first began manufacturing cables for ultrasound diagnostic equipment, our brief was to create strong, thin, flexible cables which would provide clear images. When making a diagnosis, healthcare professionals place the sensor on the patient’s body, rotating it and moving it backwards and forwards multiple times. A strong but flexible cable is therefore needed to accommodate for this movement, whilst a high-density signal is required to enable doctors to view images of the inside of the body. At times, a patient’s life depends on an accurate diagnosis, so above all these machines including their cables must be completely reliable.

To create thin, durable cables we employed our advanced knowledge of fluoropolymer technology, which we used as a cable dielectric. To project images more clearly, we began to work on a low-capacitance cable design. We experimented with a range of technologies to create a variety of prototypes. Through these, we explored how to minimize the dielectric thickness, create a dielectric pore structure, and stabilize the quality of shield technology.

To achieve the flexibility required we used a specialised cable twisting method, weaving at least 100 ultra-fine coaxial cables together. If just one of those strands broke, achieving an accurate image would be impossible, so we also worked to make them incredibly strong. Eventually, this led to us designing an ultra-fine coaxial cable which was perfectly suited to this diagnostic equipment.