Hypotube Flexibility via Segmented Laser Cuts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional medical hypotubes, particularly those made of stainless steel, tend to kink when navigating tortuous paths in the body, while nitinol alternatives are expensive to manufacture, especially in small quantities.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a series of strategically arranged cuts around the circumference of the hypotube, such as circumferential or helical cuts, to enhance flexibility without compromising structural integrity, potentially using stainless steel or nickel-titanium alloys, and employing laser cutting techniques to optimize the cutting process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If stainless steel hypotubes are used, then structural integrity and ability to glide through anatomy is improved, but tendency to kink worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The hypotube is segmented through a series of circumferential cuts that extend around the tube at spaced intervals. These cuts divide the continuous tube structure into sections that can flex independently, allowing the tube to navigate tortuous paths without kinking while maintaining overall structural integrity through the remaining continuous material between cuts.
Solution Approach 2:
The hypotube has non-uniform structural properties along its length. The circumferential cuts create localized flexible regions that allow bending and navigation through tortuous anatomy, while the uncut portions maintain structural strength and rigidity for pushing and torque transmission. This local differentiation of properties resolves the contradiction between flexibility and strength.
2Reliability
If nitinol is used to form hypotubes, then kink resistance is improved, but manufacturing cost worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the structural parameters of the hypotube by introducing circumferential cuts at specific intervals and configurations. This structural modification allows conventional stainless steel to achieve kink resistance previously only available from expensive nitinol materials, thereby reducing manufacturing cost while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention enables the use of inexpensive stainless steel hypotubes with circumferential cuts that provide kink resistance comparable to expensive nitinol. This allows manufacturers to use cheaper materials without sacrificing performance, effectively replacing expensive long-lasting nitinol with cheaper stainless steel alternatives that achieve the same functional outcome.
3Adaptability or versatility
If flexibility-enhancing cuts are added to hypotubes, then flexibility is improved, but structural integrity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The circumferential cuts extend only partially around the hypotube circumference rather than completely severing the tube. This partial action provides sufficient flexibility enhancement for navigating tortuous paths while leaving enough continuous material to maintain structural integrity, pushing strength, and resisting collapse.
Solution Approach 2:
The hypotube structure becomes a composite of cut and uncut regions, creating a hybrid structure that combines flexible segments with strong connecting portions. This composite arrangement allows the tube to exhibit both flexibility for navigation and strength for structural support simultaneously.
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 flexibility-enhancing features reduce the likelihood of kinking in medical hypotubes, maintaining structural integrity and fluid flow while potentially reducing manufacturing time and costs by up to 40%.
Implementation Method 1
employing laser cutting techniques to optimize the cutting process
Data Source
AI summary
An elongated medical device includes an elongated tubular element with a series of flexibility enhancing features along a length of the elongated tubular element. Each flexibility enhancing feature may include a series of cuts. The cuts of one flexibility enhancing feature may be offset relative to the cuts of a longitudinally adjacent flexibility enhancing feature. The flexibility enhancing features may be grouped into two or more interleaved sets, with each set of circumferential cuts being offset relative to the next set of circumferential cuts. Methods for manufacturing such elongated medical devices are also disclosed.