Dip Coating Apparatus for Medical Devices with Uniform Thickness Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dip coating methods for long medical assist devices like catheters and guidewires face challenges in achieving uniform coating due to difficulties in complete immersion and varying coating thickness from the leading to the trailing end, leading to potential injury and inflammation when these devices come into contact with blood vessels or organs.
Innovation Solution
A dip coating apparatus with a hopper-shaped coating booth and coating tubes of the same length as the devices, featuring an elevating member and position adjusting mechanism, allows for simultaneous coating of multiple devices as a bundle, ensuring uniform coverage from end to end, with S-shaped traps to manage coating fluid distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional dip coating method is used for long medical assist devices, then the devices can be coated with hydrophilic material, but the coating thickness varies from leading end to trailing end and complete immersion is difficult to achieve
Solution Approach 1:
The coating booth is divided into multiple sections (first coating booth, second coating booth, third coating booth) along the longitudinal direction, with each section coating a specific portion of the device. This segmentation allows precise control of coating thickness at different locations, solving the problem of non-uniform coating on long devices.
Solution Approach 2:
A guiding member is introduced as an intermediary component to hold and position the medical assist device during coating. The guiding member ensures proper immersion depth and positioning, making complete and uniform immersion easier to achieve while maintaining coating precision.
2Productivity
If multiple medical assist devices are coated individually, then each device receives adequate coating attention, but the manufacturing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple medical assist devices are bundled together and coated simultaneously in the same coating booths. The guiding member holds the bundle, ensuring all devices receive consistent coating. This merging approach increases productivity while maintaining coating quality consistency across all devices.
3Manufacturing precision
If more coating fluid is applied to ensure complete coverage, then uniform coating is achieved, but the consumption of coating fluid increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each coating booth applies coating fluid locally to its designated section, with controlled immersion depth. The first booth coats the leading end, the second booth coats the middle portion, and the third booth coats the trailing end. This localized approach ensures uniform coverage without excessive fluid consumption across the entire device length.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus reduces coating fluid consumption, minimizes manufacturing time, and ensures a uniform coating on long medical assist devices, preventing injury and inflammation by maintaining consistent coating thickness across the device length.
Implementation Method 1
coating tubes having the same length as the medical assist devices and being coated with a coating fluid on an inner surface thereof, thereby coating the respective medical assist devices when the respective medical assist devices pass therethrough
Implementation Method 2
Each of the coating tubes may be provided with an S-shaped trap that is bent in an S shape and temporarily stores the coating fluid so that the coating fluid can be coated on a corresponding one of the medical assist devices when the medical assist device passes therethrough
Data Source
AI summary
This application relates to a dip coating apparatus for coating a medical assist device such as a catheter or guidewire to a uniform thickness. The apparatus includes a casing and a coating booth disposed in the casing and containing a coating fluid. The apparatus also includes an elevating member vertically movable in the casing and configured to hold an upper end of each of medical assist devices so that the medical assist devices can be hung. The apparatus further includes a position adjusting member for adjusting the height of the elevating member, and a controller for controlling operation of the position adjusting member. The coating booth includes a coating unit having the same length as each medical assist device and a hopper-shaped guide unit that guides a bundle of the medical assist devices to be inserted into the coating unit when the guide unit contacts the medical assist devices.