The “revolution” of “from being to being” will make the “helium anxiety” of superconducting magnetic resonance history
“In the field of magnetic resonance superconductivity, China has been in the stage of catching up in the past. Now liquid helium free superconductivity is first developed and listed by our country, which has brought innovation to the medical industry.” Chen Min, director of the radiology department and director of the imaging center of Beijing hospital, said. Recently, Midea’s holding group Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) Co., Ltd. announced the official launch of China’s first liquid helium free magnetic resonance Kaitian ivision 1.5T.
It is understood that the product is truly 100% liquid helium free. From then on, superconducting magnetic resonance no longer needs quench tube, no need to supplement liquid helium and no fear of quench. As a continuation of superconducting magnetic resonance, this “revolution” from being to being will make the “helium anxiety” of superconducting magnetic resonance history. Looking forward to the future, this technology will also promote the popularization of MRI examination, greatly reduce the cost and benefit all mankind.
In recent years, Midea has made frequent efforts to build a smart medical track. Following the acquisition of KUKA, a German Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) company, and the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, Midea joined Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) as a listed company of medical imaging in February this year to overweight the layout of the medical device track. As Xie Yufeng, President of Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) said, “International multinationals, especially mechanical and electronic companies, are supported by large household appliance groups, while most Chinese medical imaging companies are in an independent state. As an industry with large investment, technology intensive and capital intensive, high-end medical imaging equipment, supported by the background of large household appliance groups, is an important trend of industry development in the future, which is also beautiful Key factors in choosing to enter the medical and imaging industry. “
With the birth of Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) the first domestic liquid helium free superconducting magnetic resonance, Midea’s smart medical sector has been further consolidated, and the group’s to B industry will be further extended.
break through the “from there to nothing”
At present, the number of installed superconducting magnetic resonance in China is about 20000, and the magnetic resonance in hospitals is mainly superconducting magnetic resonance. In addition to high-tech requirements and process difficulties, it also needs to consume a very important industrial material – liquid helium. Liquid helium, known as the “source of life” of superconducting magnetic resonance, has sounded the alarm of shortage in recent years. Despite its vast territory and abundant resources, China has only 0.2% of the global helium resources. It is facing the “neck” problem of liquid helium shortage, which leads to its high price.
“This is a headache in the field of magnetic resonance. Liquid helium needs to be supplemented in many processes from production to delivery of a superconducting magnet to users.” Xie Yufeng said, “In the later use and maintenance, it also needs to supplement liquid helium regularly, which also takes a certain time cost and capital cost. The most important thing is that China basically does not produce helium, and almost all of China’s helium depends on imports. This resource is highly monopolized, and the pricing power is in the hands of a few companies, which will bring great risks to the whole medical industry.”
It is understood that there is a certain amount of volatilization of liquid helium in the process of use. Even with the progress of technology, the volatilization of liquid helium continues to decrease, but it is still difficult to avoid the problems of liquid helium volatilization caused by power failure, refrigeration equipment failure or water cooler failure. In addition, superconducting magnetic resonance will have a more serious problem, namely “quench”.
The so-called “quench” refers to the accidental loss of magnetic field of the magnet under certain circumstances, which will lead to the volatilization of a large amount of liquid helium. Therefore, liquid helium must be replenished regularly for magnetic resonance products. According to Wang Huan, manager of Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) magnetic resonance products department, the hospital replenishes liquid helium at least 200 ~ 300 liters at a time, and the cost of liquid helium is 200 ~ 300 yuan / liter, about tens of thousands of yuan at a time. The proportion of quench phenomenon is 7% – 8%. Once it occurs, the supplement amount of liquid helium will reach 1000 ~ 1500 liters. “This means an economic loss of hundreds of thousands of yuan.” Wang Huan added.
At the same time, the storage requirements of liquid helium at low temperature and high pressure and the prevention of helium leakage consume a lot of electric energy, energy consumption and human and material resources. Helium is a toxic gas. Once it leaks, it will cause serious consequences. Therefore, many hospitals have specially established helium transport channels and helium discharge channels to improve the 24-hour monitoring system, but this also means huge management costs. Xie Yufeng said, “this is not only the cost visible to the naked eye, but also the intangible cost such as mental and psychological pressure. Once it is leaked, it will face huge losses. People in the equipment department are often in a state of high tension.”
In 2021, Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) took the lead in the key project of “2021 national new material production and application demonstration platform – medical device material production and application platform” of the Ministry of industry and information technology, joined hands with Western Superconducting Technologies Co.Ltd(688122) , Ningbo Jianxin and other industry leaders, made collaborative innovation from the source, opened up the upstream and downstream of liquid helium free magnetic resonance industrial chain, and realized superconducting materials, liquid helium free magnets The whole machine system is independently developed and produced on a large scale in the whole industrial chain, laying a solid foundation for the development and growth of the magnetic resonance industry.
The launch of the first liquid helium free magnetic resonance Kaitian ivision 1.5T in China has solved the above problems. It is reported that Wandong Kaitian ivision1 5T liquid helium free magnetic resonance, subversive research and development of free cool ultra-low temperature conduction technology, the integration of high-efficiency low-temperature medium, ultra-high vacuum, super insulation technology, aerospace grade carbon fiber suspension and other black technologies, truly realize 100% liquid helium free and open a new era of liquid helium free magnetic resonance. At the same time, the product is not afraid of loss and excess, and greatly reduces the maintenance and operation cost and operation cost in the equipment life cycle. In case of emergency such as ferromagnetic objects adsorbing on magnets, liquid helium free magnetic resonance can drop the field quickly to avoid huge economic losses.
Since Kaitian ivision 1.5T does not need liquid helium, there is no need for quench tube, which realizes the freedom of installation. MRI will become the most ideal choice for compound operating room, mobile MRI and vehicle mounted MRI. Xie Yufeng said, “under normal circumstances, the hospital needs to consider the situation of quench in the installation process to discharge the helium outdoors, so the installed room must be close to the outer wall. After there is no quench tube, the requirements for site installation will be greatly reduced, which is also an additional benefit.”
In Wang Huan’s view, in the past, magnetic resonance needed 24 hours of refrigeration to prevent volatilization. Liquid helium free magnetic resonance made mobile magnetic resonance a reality. In the process of transportation, there is no need to worry about the consumption and replenishment of liquid helium, which provides a strong support for Chinese products to enter the international market. At the same time, liquid helium free magnetic resonance makes it possible for patients to stand for examination. In the future, imaging of spine, pelvic cavity and lower limbs under force in standing and sitting posture will be realized. “The medical community has always had a strong demand for the examination of human weight-bearing magnetic resonance,” Wang Huan hoped that the introduction of liquid helium free magnetic resonance would help clinical examination.
new technology meets new requirements
Through the installation and operation of the demonstration hospital, the liquid helium free magnetic resonance of Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) can be put into normal use. At present, the preparation for batch commercialization of the equipment has been completed, but Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) is in the early stage of obtaining the registration certificate because the medical devices and equipment need to pass the national registration.
Xie Yufeng said, “liquid helium free magnetic resonance has condensed our efforts and efforts for 5-10 years. Since this product is the first in the world, the evaluation process is relatively long.
”Xie Yufeng predicted that 3000-5000 liquid helium free magnetic resonance machines will be initially launched on the market. Since the global market has suffered from liquid helium for a long time, liquid helium free magnetic resonance will have broad market prospects and bring new market growth points.
In fact, with the increasingly saturated demand of the home appliance market, in recent years, more and more home appliance giants have arranged cross-border smart medical tracks to seek new growth points. Take Midea as an example. In 2017, Midea spent 29.2 billion yuan to acquire KUKA, a German Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) company. In the same year, it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, focusing on multi-dimensional cooperation in medical Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) , intelligent logistics, health big data and other fields. In addition, since the re division of the group’s business structure at the end of 2020, Midea building technology has also regarded smart hospital as one of the key breakthrough directions of the division. Recently, the division and Midea Heyou hospital officially reached strategic cooperation. The entry of Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) is an important layout for Midea to directly cut into the manufacturing of medical devices.
In Xie Yufeng’s opinion, Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) has a lot in common with Meimei in equipment manufacturing, which is also an important reason why Meimei chose Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) as the cutting entrance of medical devices. “From the perspective of Midea’s gene, it is a mechanical and electronic background, that is, an electronic and electrical background. On this background, there are many underlying common technologies, which can support the development of medical devices and facilitate the understanding of the underlying logic of technology and products themselves.”
In 2017, the Ministry of science and Technology issued the special plan for scientific and technological innovation of medical devices in the 13th five year plan, which proposed to accelerate the transformation of the medical device industry to innovation driven development and improve the R & D and innovation chain of medical devices; At the same time, we will break through a number of cutting-edge and common key technologies and core components, develop a number of high-end and mainstream medical devices with high import dependence and urgent clinical needs, and intelligent, mobile and networked products suitable for the grass-roots level, and pay attention to launching a number of application solutions based on domestic Innovation Medical Management Co.Ltd(002173) device products.
In order to comply with the requirements of national planning, Midea injected capital into Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) and established a medical research institute to focus on product research and development. At the same time, Midea Central Research Institute has established a medical device research institute. Take medical devices as an example. In fact, many underlying common technologies are interlinked with household appliances, such as noise reduction technology of CT or magnetic resonance. For a long time, household appliances have paid great attention to noise, and the research on relevant aspects is even deeper than that of the medical industry. Another example is the heat dissipation of core components in CT and NMR. The technology and experience accumulated by Midea thermal technology team over the years can be transplanted to the past.
In addition, Midea’s technology in Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) can also be directly transplanted to the past, such as some parts that need to be rotated. According to Midea Group Co.Ltd(000333) relevant sources, at present, relevant projects have been promoted, because Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) the control technology in the design of manipulator can improve the control accuracy of medical devices, including positioning and imaging accuracy, which are some basic common technologies.
At present, Midea has solved nearly 70% of the technical difficulties of Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) . The newly established medical device research institute is to solve the remaining 30% of technical problems. Meanwhile, Midea’s research on cutting-edge technologies through AI innovation center can be applied to the medical field.
According to AI media consulting data, the overall scale of China’s digital economy reached 41.4 trillion yuan in 2020, accounting for 38.6% of GDP. It is expected to reach 47.6 trillion yuan in 2021. China’s digital economy has become an important force driving China’s economic growth. Under this economic background, enterprises need to accelerate the pace of digital transformation and continuously enhance their development competitiveness in the wave of digitization, networking and intelligence in the future. Midea to B industry, such as new energy vehicles and smart medicine, has seen many new technologies, including digitization and intellectualization, which will bring disruptive changes to the industry and create products of a new era to meet new needs.
At present, foreign brands account for 75% of the market share of medical devices (including medical imaging equipment), while domestic brands account for less. This also means that there is still huge room for development in the field of medical devices in China. As Fang Hongbo, chairman of Midea Group Co.Ltd(000333) , said before, holding Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) is not a short-term behavior. It is a platform and springboard for Midea to enter the field of medical equipment. In the future, we will use this platform to continuously increase investment.
Today, with the birth of Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.Ltd(600055) the first domestic liquid helium free superconducting magnetic resonance, Midea has been increasing its R & D investment. In the future, Midea will adhere to the strategy of “new strategy and new growth” and strive to meet new requirements with new technologies and products.
