Biocompatible Housing for Implantable Feedthroughs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Implantable medical devices face challenges in forming secure and durable connections between external conductive elements and lead wires due to physical and chemical stresses, leading to potential fractures and adverse reactions in the implant environment.
Innovation Solution
A protective cap and biocompatible backfill material combination is used to enhance protection against mechanical and chemical forces, with the cap preventing external force transmission and the backfill material filling void spaces to prevent biological fluid ingress, while also providing mechanical protection and encapsulating wires and welds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If lead wires are attached to conductive pins through welding, then electrical connections are formed, but the connections are vulnerable to mechanical and chemical stresses causing fracture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies beforehand cushioning by introducing a protective cap and backfill material that preemptively protect the weld connections from mechanical and chemical stresses. The protective cap acts as a cushioning structure that absorbs and distributes mechanical loads, while the backfill material provides chemical protection and environmental isolation, preventing stress concentration at the weld interfaces before damage can occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses an intermediary approach by introducing a protective cap and backfill material as intermediary elements between the external environment and the vulnerable weld connections. These intermediaries serve as protective mediators that isolate the welds from harmful chemical and mechanical factors, creating a buffered zone that protects the fragile electrical connections without interfering with their electrical functionality.
2Productivity
If feedthrough devices have high density conductive paths, then electrical transmission is achieved, but lead wire density increases making connections more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the protective function into separate components: a protective cap structure and a backfill material. This segmentation allows each component to address specific aspects of protection independently, making the overall system more manageable and easier to manufacture while providing comprehensive protection for high-density feedthroughs.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective cap and backfill material combination provides multi-functionality, serving both mechanical protection and chemical protection functions simultaneously. This universal approach allows a single integrated solution to address multiple vulnerability aspects of high-density feedthroughs, reducing the need for separate protective measures for each type of stress.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If sealing elements are made impervious to liquids and gases, then protection against biological fluids is achieved, but connection durability against physical stresses is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing different types of protection at different locations and for different functions. The protective cap provides mechanical strength and structural support at the connection interfaces, while the backfill material provides chemical imperviousness and biological fluid protection in the surrounding environment. Each material is optimized for its specific function rather than requiring all materials to be universally strong and impervious.
Data Source
AI summary
Implantable medical devices have a feedthrough from the device to the outside world to pass electrical current from electronics inside the implant to the patient or vice versa. A plurality of sensors and/or signal wires in a wire bundle must connect to the feedthrough and implant in living tissue in the patient. Chemical and physical forces work against the wire connections on the feedthrough. Disclosed embodiments include a biocompatible housing that can be used for an implantable medical device. The biocompatible housing includes a recess with at least one wire exit port, the recess having at least one feedthrough assembly mounted therein. A wire of the feedthrough assembly passes out the wire exit port, and the recess has a top hermetically sealed over it.