Balloon Cover Structure for Controlled Catheter Inflation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical balloons face challenges in achieving high burst pressure while maintaining a low delivery profile and ensuring uniform inflation along the length to prevent stent misalignment and vessel trauma.
Innovation Solution
A catheter balloon system with a balloon cover comprising first and second portions, each with a taper end and an aperture, where the taper ends are located at opposite ends and overlap for a substantial portion of the balloon length, providing controlled inflation profiles and increased burst pressure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If the balloon wall thickness is reduced to minimize the delivery profile, then the delivery profile is improved, but the rated burst pressure decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by combining a balloon envelope made of flexible material with a reinforcing mesh structure. The mesh is integrated into the envelope to provide tensile strength and resistance to burst pressure, while maintaining the flexibility and low profile of the balloon. This composite construction allows the balloon to achieve high burst pressure without increasing wall thickness, resolving the contradiction between delivery profile and rated burst pressure.
Solution Approach 2:
The balloon structure is segmented into functional components: the envelope provides flexibility and sealing, while the mesh provides structural strength and burst resistance. This segmentation allows each component to optimize its specific function without compromising the other, enabling the balloon to maintain a low profile while achieving high burst pressure through the coordinated action of the envelope and mesh.
2Force
If the balloon inflates to a large expanded diameter to expand hard calcified lesions, then the expansion capability is improved, but the inflation uniformity deteriorates causing stent misalignment and vessel trauma
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a pressure sensor within the balloon that provides real-time feedback on inflation pressure distribution. This feedback mechanism allows the system to detect and correct uneven inflation patterns, ensuring uniform expansion across the entire balloon length. The feedback enables precise control of the inflation process, preventing stent misalignment and vessel trauma while maintaining high expansion capability for treating hard calcified lesions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent controls inflation uniformity by dynamically adjusting pressure parameters during the inflation process. The system modifies pressure distribution across the balloon based on real-time conditions, ensuring even expansion. This parameter control allows the balloon to achieve uniform inflation profile while maintaining the necessary expansion force for treating calcified lesions, resolving the contradiction between expansion capability and inflation uniformity.
3Length of moving object
If the balloon is designed with a low wall thickness to maintain a low delivery profile, then the delivery profile is improved, but the balloon strength and burst pressure resistance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials by integrating a mesh structure within the balloon envelope. The mesh acts as a reinforcement that significantly improves burst pressure resistance without adding substantial wall thickness. This composite approach allows the balloon to maintain a low delivery profile while achieving high reliability and burst pressure resistance, as the mesh provides structural integrity without increasing the external dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The mesh structure serves as an intermediary element between the envelope and the internal pressure. It mediates the force transmission, distributing stress evenly across the balloon wall and preventing localized weakness. This intermediary mesh reinforces the thin-walled envelope, enabling the balloon to resist high burst pressures while maintaining a low delivery profile, thus resolving the contradiction between delivery profile and burst pressure resistance.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of inflating a catheter balloon may include providing a balloon assembly operable to provide a balloon diameter vs. balloon pressure profile generally depicting a balloon inflation sequence providing at least one intermediate inflated diameter and a final inflated diameter of a balloon such that the balloon attains the at least one intermediate diameter at a predetermined pressure, and attains the final diameter at a final predetermined pressure that is lower than a predetermined pressure of a last intermediate pressure.