Hybrid Pattern Stent Structure for Flexibility and Radial Strength
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing intravascular stents face limitations in flexibility, often collapsing when bent around sharp angles, and require costly manufacturing methods that lack consistency in wall thickness verification.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid pattern intravascular stent is manufactured using thin ribbons of biocompatible materials like nickel-titanium alloy, with geometrically deformable closed cells and bridge members, allowing for flexibility and strength, and is fabricated through vapor deposition techniques that minimize post-deposition processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional stent designs are used, then structural strength is maintained, but flexibility deteriorates causing collapse when bent around sharp angles
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is divided into multiple cell structures (open cells and closed cells) that can independently deform. The segmentation allows different regions to flex differently, enabling the stent to bend around sharp angles while maintaining overall structural integrity and radial strength through the closed cell portions.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent combines two distinct structural patterns (open cells and closed cells) within a single device. The open cells provide flexibility for bending, while the closed cells provide radial strength, creating a composite structure that simultaneously achieves both properties that were previously mutually exclusive.
2Stability of the object's composition
If tubular materials are used for stent manufacturing, then structural integrity is maintained, but material cost increases and wall thickness consistency becomes difficult to verify
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical tube forming processes with a vapor deposition technique that deposits material layer-by-layer onto a mandrel. This substitution enables precise control of wall thickness through deposition parameters, ensures consistency through process control, and reduces material waste, thereby lowering manufacturing costs while maintaining integrity.
3Manufacturing precision
If complex post-deposition processing is performed, then surface precision is improved, but manufacturing time and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The vapor deposition process is designed to deposit material with the desired final surface precision directly during the deposition phase, eliminating the need for subsequent machining, polishing, or other post-deposition processing steps. This preliminary action achieves the required surface quality while maximizing manufacturing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The vapor deposition process inherently produces a surface with the required precision through controlled deposition parameters, meaning the process serves its own quality control function without requiring additional external processing steps. The deposited layer self-adjusts to achieve the target surface finish.
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 hybrid pattern stent provides enhanced flexibility and radial strength, suitable for tightly bent vessels, with reduced material costs and improved manufacturing efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
fabricated by employing a vapor deposition technique which entails vapor depositing a stent-forming metal onto a substrate
Data Source
AI summary
An intravascular stent and method of making an intervascular stent having a hybrid pattern The hybrid pattern comprises a plurality of circumferentially self-expansible members comprising a plurality of interconnected, geometrically deformable closed cells, adjacent self-expansible members interconnected by a plurality of bridge members linking a first interconnection between two closed cells in a first self-expansible member to a second interconnection between two closed cells in a second self-expansible member, wherein the second interconnection is circumferentially offset and non-adjacent to the first interconnection.