Modular Stent Assembly with Snap-Fit Coupling for Customizable Length
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional stents, particularly those made from expensive materials like Nitinol, face challenges in manufacturing efficiency, material wastage, and inability to finely adjust compressibility and expansion characteristics, making them unsuitable for delicate applications and costly to produce.
Innovation Solution
A modular stent assembly composed of interlocking stent sections with snap-fit coupling elements, allowing for customizable length and varying flexibility by combining sections with different strut thicknesses and widths, enabling assembly into desired configurations and reducing wastage by allowing defective sections to be replaced rather than discarding entire stents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If laser cutting is used to manufacture stents from expensive materials like Nitinol, then manufacturing precision and uniformity are improved, but manufacturing cost and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is divided into multiple identical modular segments that can be manufactured separately and then assembled. Each segment is laser-cut from a tube to ensure precision and uniformity, while the modular nature allows parallel manufacturing of multiple segments, significantly improving overall productivity and reducing total manufacturing time.
2Manufacturing precision
If laser cutting is used to manufacture stents, then manufacturing precision is improved, but material wastage increases due to complex cutting patterns
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the stent into modular sections, each segment can be laser-cut from a tube in a standardized, optimized pattern that minimizes waste. The segments are then assembled to form the complete stent, reducing overall material wastage compared to laser-cutting an entire complex stent structure in one piece.
3Strength
If entire stents are manufactured as unitary structures, then structural integrity is ensured, but adaptability to different medical applications is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is segmented into multiple modular sections that can be assembled in different configurations. This allows customization of stent length, flexibility, and other characteristics to match specific medical applications while maintaining structural integrity through secure coupling elements that ensure strong connections between segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The modular design enables dynamic adaptation of stent characteristics. Different combinations of segments with varying properties (such as flexibility, diameter, and stiffness) can be assembled to create stents tailored to specific anatomical requirements, providing adaptability while maintaining structural integrity through secure coupling elements.
4Ease of manufacture
If conventional wire-based stents are used, then ease of manufacture is maintained, but compressibility and expansion characteristics are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The stent combines the manufacturing simplicity of modular assembly with the precision of laser-cut segments. Each segment is laser-cut to achieve precise compressibility and expansion characteristics, while the overall stent is assembled using straightforward coupling mechanisms, balancing manufacturing ease with precise mechanical properties.
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 modular design simplifies manufacturing, reduces material wastage, and allows for precise customization of stent characteristics, enhancing performance and cost-effectiveness by enabling stents to be tailored for specific medical applications without the need for producing entire stents of specific lengths or designs.
Implementation Method 1
the coupling elements of at least two of said stent sections have co-operating forms so as to lock together in a substantially fixed manner in all configurations of the stent assembly
Data Source
AI summary
A modular stent assembly (20) is provided with stent sections (22-26) which are coupled together by a coupling arrangement formed of first (30) and second (32) coupling elements. The first and second coupling elements (30, 32) provide a strong coupling between adjacent stent sections (22-26) which behaves in a manner substantially identical to the conventional unitary tie bar. The modular nature of the stent assembly (20) reduces manufacturing costs, can provide for replacement of only a defective part of the assembly 20 and can facilitate the assembly of a stent having differing characteristics along its length optimised for a particular medical application.