Aridion™, a revolutionary liquid repellent nano-coating that protects hearing aids against corrosion and warranty failure, will be showcased by P2i at AudiologyNOW! 2010.
Already used by three of the world's largest hearing aid manufacturers, Aridion™ is applied using a special pulsed ionised gas (plasma), which is created within a vacuum chamber, to attach a nanoscopic polymer layer - one thousand times thinner than a human hair - to the hearing aid. This dramatically lowers the product's surface energy, so that when humidity or sweat comes into contact with it, they form beads and simply roll off.This helps transform the reliability of hearing aids, which contain delicate, expensive components at high risk of liquid damage - improving battery life, minimizing warranty failure and repair costs, and increasing user confidence.
Plus, because Aridion™ coats every espect of a finished product at the nanoscopic level, it protects much more thoroughly than alternative approaches where individual product components are treated prior to assembly. The result is a truly durable liquid repellent coating that does not affect the product's look, feel or delicate acoustic properties.
P2i will be running real-time demonstrations of the Aridion™ process on the hour, every hour at booth 2806, where delegates will be able to see first-hand the amazing level of protection provided by the technology. Members of the P2i team will also be on hand to discuss industry developments and answer questions.
Stephen Coulson, Chief Technical Officer at P2i, comments: "As hearing aids become increasingly miniature, sophisticated and fragile, they are also becoming more difficult to protect. AudiologyNOW! 2010 is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate how Aridion™ transforms standards of protection and reliability by overcoming the limitations of traditional liquid repellency approaches - however intricate the hearing aid design or active the lifestyle of the user. In fact, we are already achieving excellent results with three of the world's largest hearing aid manufacturers, who have recognized how Aridion™ improves reliability and decreases the number of repairs required per unit, saving money, time and frustration for them, dispensers and end users alike."
Aridion™ can be cost-effectively applied to finished products using compact, high-throughput P2i processing machines. These integrate seamlessly and effortlessly with existing assembly lines, are easy to scale-up, and can be operated at the touch of a single button. In a typical production environment, one P2i machine can treat a hearing aid in less than ten seconds.
