Guide Wire Reshapeable Section with Bent Parts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing guide wires face challenges in reshaping their distal parts to navigate complex coronary artery branches due to limitations in flexibility and strength, particularly when using superelastic alloys that tend to revert to their original shape upon temperature increase, and cold drawing methods that compromise flexibility and strength.
Innovation Solution
A guide wire design featuring a plate-shaped reshapeable section with strategically positioned bent parts that are more susceptible to plastic deformation, combined with a tapered section and a helical coil, allows for easy reshaping while maintaining sufficient flexibility and strength, using work hardening and heat treatment to enhance plastic deformability in specific areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If heat treatment is applied to degrade superelasticity of the distal part, then reshaping becomes easier, but the distal part returns to its original shape when inserted into a living body due to shape memory effect
Solution Approach 1:
The guide wire is divided into multiple sections with different properties: a proximal section with superelasticity for flexibility and a distal section with degraded superelasticity for reshaping capability. This segmentation allows each section to fulfill its specific function independently, resolving the contradiction between ease of reshaping and shape stability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the guide wire are given different material properties through selective heat treatment. The distal section undergoes heat treatment to degrade superelasticity and enable reshaping, while the proximal section maintains superelasticity for flexibility. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by applying reshaping characteristics only where needed.
2Ease of operation
If cold drawing is used to deprive superelasticity of the distal part, then reshaping becomes possible, but flexibility and strength are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using cold drawing which permanently degrades material properties, the patent applies heat treatment to temporarily alter the phase transformation temperature of the superelastic alloy. This parameter change enables reshaping while preserving the material's inherent strength and flexibility characteristics, resolving the contradiction between reshaping capability and mechanical properties.
3Ease of operation
If the distal part is made thinner to enhance flexibility, then flexibility improves, but strength cannot be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The guide wire employs a composite structure combining superelastic alloy with specific geometric configurations (tapered sections, helical coils, and plate-shaped reshapeable sections). This composite design allows the wire to achieve both flexibility and strength through the synergistic effect of different structural elements, resolving the contradiction between thinning for flexibility and maintaining strength.
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 guide wire achieves excellent reshaping capabilities, maintaining the desired shape at both normal and body temperatures, with enhanced flexibility and strength, enabling precise navigation through complex vascular structures.
Implementation Method 1
the superelastic alloy tends to return to its original straight shape due to its own shape memory effect
Implementation Method 2
the heat treatment raises the transformation temperature of the distal part, and the heat-treated part does not exhibit superelasticity at room temperature
Implementation Method 3
The bent part more susceptible to plastic deformation preferably has undergone work hardening
Data Source
AI summary
A guide wire includes a wire body having a plate-shaped reshapeable section at a distal part thereof, wherein the reshapeable section is provided along the longitudinal direction thereof with a plurality of bent parts bent in opposite directions. At least one of the bent parts is more susceptible to plastic deformation than other parts of the reshapeable section.