Medical Implant Folding Apparatus with Segmented Shaft Fibers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing implant folding and unfolding technologies face challenges in achieving uniform folding and preventing buckling or bulging, especially in implants with inhomogeneous mechanical properties along the periphery, due to the limitations in tension thread management and shaft fiber arrangements.
Innovation Solution
A set comprising a shaft with multiple individual shaft fibers and tension threads that pass through shaft openings and common apertures on the implant, allowing for parallel guidance and controlled tension application to alter the implant's shape, diameter, and geometry, ensuring uniform folding and unfolding without buckling, by utilizing a tensioning device and strategically arranged shaft openings and apertures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If tension threads are used to fold or unfold the implant, then the implant can be transformed between folded and unfolded states, but non-parallel tension threads cause non-uniform forces leading to buckling or bulging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces shaft fibers as intermediary elements between the tension threads and the implant. These shaft fibers run parallel to each other and guide the tension threads, ensuring that the forces are distributed uniformly across the implant structure. The shaft fibers act as a mediating structure that transforms the tension applied by the threads into uniform radial forces on the implant, preventing buckling and bulging during folding and unfolding operations.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple tension threads are applied to achieve uniform folding, then the control over implant shape improvement is enhanced, but the complexity of thread management and shaft structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the shaft structure into multiple discrete shaft fibers, each carrying or guiding tension threads. This segmentation allows for independent control and optimization of each fiber-thread-implant interaction point. The modular nature of segmented shaft fibers simplifies the overall management complexity by breaking down the complex multi-thread system into manageable, standardized units that can be independently positioned and controlled.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the implant has inhomogeneous mechanical properties along the periphery, then the implant can be designed to meet specific functional requirements, but uniform folding and unfolding becomes more difficult to achieve
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the local quality principle by allowing different shaft fibers to have different properties or configurations tailored to the local mechanical requirements of the implant. Each shaft fiber can be optimized for its specific location on the implant, with variations in material properties, dimensions, or tension characteristics. This enables the system to accommodate inhomogeneous mechanical properties in the implant while maintaining uniform folding through locally adapted shaft fiber characteristics.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to set comprising an apparatus (100) for folding or unfolding at least one medical implant (300) by means of at least one tension thread (11, 11′), wherein the apparatus (100) comprises a shaft (1) and a tensioning device for altering a form or shape of the foldable and/or unfoldable implant (300) by means of the tension thread (11, 11′). In at least one shaft section thereof, the shaft (1) comprises a plurality of individual shaft fibers (13).