Guide Wire Coating Segmentation for Flexibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional guide wires with a coating film on the coil body become difficult to bend, leading to reduced flexibility and increased risk of coating film rupture when inserted into blood vessels.
Innovation Solution
A guide wire design featuring a coating film arranged between adjacent coils with gaps, allowing for easier bending and improved adhesion, where the film thickness is less between coils and greater on the surface to enhance wear resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the surface of the coil body is covered with a coating film, then lubricity within the blood vessel is ensured, but it becomes difficult to bend the coil body and guide wire
Solution Approach 1:
The coating film is segmented into multiple portions that are arranged to come between adjacent coils rather than forming a continuous layer. This segmentation allows the coating film to flex and bend more easily with the coil body while still providing lubricity where needed, resolving the contradiction between maintaining lubricity and enabling bendability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the coating film have different thicknesses tailored to their specific functions: thicker portions on the outer surface provide lubricity, while thinner portions between coils provide flexibility. This local differentiation of coating quality allows the guide wire to simultaneously achieve both lubricity and ease of bending.
2Strength
If the coating film is made thicker to resist wear from contact with blood vessel walls, then wear resistance is improved, but the guide wire becomes more difficult to bend and the coating film may rupture in bent regions
Solution Approach 1:
The coating film thickness is varied locally according to functional requirements: thicker portions are placed on the outer surface where wear resistance is needed, while thinner portions are placed between coils where flexibility is required. This prevents rupture in bent regions while maintaining wear resistance on the surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The coating film is divided into multiple segments with different thickness characteristics. The thinner portions between coils act as flex zones that accommodate bending without rupturing, while the thicker surface portions provide the necessary wear resistance, thus resolving the contradiction between strength and reliability.
3Reliability
If a continuous coating film is applied on the coil body surface, then lubricity is maximized, but the guide wire loses flexibility and becomes difficult to navigate through tortuous blood vessels
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous coating film is segmented into multiple discrete portions arranged between adjacent coils. This segmentation maintains lubricity at the contact points while creating flex zones that allow the guide wire to adapt to tortuous blood vessel paths, resolving the contradiction between lubricity and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The coating film structure is made dynamic by arranging portions between coils that can flex and move relative to each other during bending. This dynamic configuration allows the guide wire to maintain lubricity during insertion while adapting its shape to follow complex vessel geometries.
Data Source
AI summary
A guide wire includes a core shaft, a coil body which covers the core shaft, and a coating film which covers the coil body. Portions of the coating film are disposed between adjacent coils of coil body, and gaps are formed between the coils and the portions of the coating film disposed between the adjacent coils. Due to this configuration, the coating the film can be easily bent, and thus the coil body may easily bend. As a result, it is possible to ensure lubricity of guide wire within the blood vessel while also enabling the guide wire to follow the shape of the blood vessel in which it is inserted.