Medical Guide Wire Helical Resin Coating Visibility Friction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical guide wires face challenges with poor visibility under endoscopic fiberscopes and insufficient slidability, leading to inaccurate placement of catheters and increased frictional resistance during insertion.
Innovation Solution
A guide wire with a resin film coating featuring uneven helical patterns distinguished by colors on its outer circumference, which serves as a marker for improved visibility and reduces frictional resistance by minimizing contact area with catheters and cannulas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a smooth resin film is applied on the guide wire to reduce friction, then slidability is improved, but visibility under fiberscope remains insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The resin film is designed with local quality variations through helical patterns that create uneven surfaces at specific locations. These patterns provide visual contrast for fiberscope visibility while the overall smooth coating maintains low friction characteristics. The helical grooves are strategically positioned to balance visibility requirements with slidability needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The resin film incorporates color variations through the helical pattern design, creating visual contrast that enhances visibility under fiberscope. The patterned structure reflects or scatters light differently, making the guide wire more detectable while the coating material itself maintains low friction properties.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If the guide wire surface is made uneven to improve visibility, then markers for movement tracking are provided, but frictional resistance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The helical pattern creates curved, rolling contact surfaces rather than flat or sharp irregularities. The spiral geometry allows the guide wire to rotate smoothly during insertion, distributing contact forces and reducing friction while maintaining the visual marker function of the uneven surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The helical pattern provides periodic surface variations that create a rolling motion effect during insertion. This periodic geometry reduces friction by converting sliding friction to rolling friction, while the repeated pattern serves as consistent visual markers for tracking guide wire position and movement.
3Length of moving object
If a thin resin film is applied to maintain flexibility, then guide wire thinness is preserved, but frictional resistance reduction is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The helical pattern introduces a dimensional variation (depth) into the resin film coating, creating unevenness that reduces friction through rolling contact while maintaining the overall thin profile of the guide wire. The pattern's depth is controlled to balance friction reduction with flexibility requirements.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
An object of the invention is to provide a guide wire which is excellent in visibility due to a fiberscope in a human body and which is low in frictional resistance to tubes such as a catheter, a cannula, etc. so as to be excellent in workability. This guide wire 10 is formed so that at least one part of a core wire is coated with a resin film 40 having uneven helical patterns 41 distinguished by colors. It is preferable that the unevenness has a depth of from 0.01mm to 0.1mm. It is preferable that the helical patterns are provided at intervals of a pitch of from 1/cm to 5/cm.