Value Plastics, a Nordson Company, Provides Medical Community With New Tubing Connector Design

New Alternative to Luer Fittings Makes for a Safer Healthcare Environment

08 August 2012 - Fort Collins, Colorado, USA - Value Plastics, a Nordson Company (Nasdaq: NDSN), introduces the BPL Series of tubing connectors, a new alternative to Luer fittings. The Luer is a standard tubing connector prevalent in medical devices largely due to its ease of use and affordable nature. Unfortunately, however, the common use of this standard design has resulted in the risk of tubing misconnections within healthcare environments. Alternatives to these fittings have therefore begun to increase in popularity.

The BPL Series of connectors incorporates a quarter-turn design that is commonly used in blood pressure applications – particularly blood pressure cuffs. Features such as Value Plastics’ 10-point grip coupled with the BPL’s patent pending winged male fitting provide superior ergonomics, while the snap-on design makes it easy to confirm that components are properly connected. These attributes can be crucial in fast-paced healthcare environments characterized by hindrances such as dark rooms and loose-fitting gloves, or critical situations that require rapid, secure connections to be made without hesitation.

Another unique characteristic of the BPL Series is the true tube stop on the rotating half of the two connectors. This allows tubing to be fully assembled onto the barb without its edge pushing against the shroud of the connector. It is this contact that hampers the rotation of the barb, causing the tubing to kink and twist. The connectors also include an O-ring that provides a tight seal, and barb sizes of 1/8” (3.2mm) and 5/32” (4.0mm). The medical grade ABS material withstands bulk sterilization processes and holds up under demanding application conditions.

Value Plastics, a Nordson Company, manufactures and markets an innovative line of fluid management components designed specifically for flexible tubing. Products include quick connect fittings, Luer fittings, check valves, tube-to-tube fittings, threaded fittings and blood pressure monitoring components. Value Plastics products find global application in demanding healthcare OEM, research and specialty industrial applications.

Nordson Corporation delivers precision technology solutions that help customers increase throughput, productivity and up-time, enable new products and features, and decrease material usage. The company engineers, manufactures and markets differentiated products and systems used for dispensing adhesives, coatings, sealants, biomaterials and other materials, fluid management, testing and inspection, and UV curing and surface plasma treatment, all supported by application expertise and direct global sales and service.

Nordson serves a wide variety of consumer non-durable, durable and technology end markets including packaging, nonwovens, electronics, medical, appliances, energy, transportation, building and construction, and general product assembly and finishing.

Founded in 1954 and headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, the company has operations and support offices in more than 30 countries. Visit Nordson at www.nordson.com, twitter.com/Nordson_Corp, or Facebook.com/Nordson.

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