Mold-Based Cuff Electrode Fabrication for Small Nerves
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current manufacturing techniques for cuff electrodes are not scalable for commercial production, particularly for smaller nerves and muscles, as they are often limited to larger sizes and require complex components that are difficult to manufacture at a reduced scale, hindering widespread use in neural stimulation and recording applications.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the use of a mold to form an implantable cuff electrode with a channel for conductors, where a formable material is pressed into the mold to create a body that can be cured and released, allowing for the production of cuff electrodes suitable for smaller body tissues, using techniques like imprint lithography for high throughput and precision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If manual casting or additive manufacturing is used to fabricate cuff electrodes, then small production quantities can be achieved, but mass fabrication of reduced scale cuff electrodes is not possible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a mold that can be replicated multiple times to produce cuff electrodes. The mold captures the precise geometry of the nerve interface and can be used to create numerous identical or varied cuff electrodes through injection molding, enabling mass production while maintaining reduced scale dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the manufacturing parameters from manual/additive processes to injection molding parameters (temperature, pressure, injection rate). This allows the same mold to produce cuffs at different scales by adjusting molding parameters, enabling both precision and high productivity.
2Ease of manufacture
If cuff electrodes are designed for larger nerves and muscles, then fabrication is easier, but fitment to small nerves and muscles is not achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The mold design serves multiple functions: it defines the cuff geometry, incorporates conductor positions, and can produce cuffs for various nerve sizes. By changing molding parameters or using different mold cavities, the same manufacturing system can produce cuffs adapted to different nerve diameters, from small to large.
Solution Approach 2:
The manufacturing process separates the mold design from the production volume. The mold itself is a precise, reusable tool that can be manufactured once and then used to produce many cuffs. This segmentation allows the complex precision work to be done once in mold fabrication, while subsequent production is simplified and scalable.
3Reliability
If complex components are used in cuff electrode design, then functionality is improved, but manufacturing at reduced scale becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple components (cuff body, conductors, insulation) into a single integrated molding process. The mold incorporates all these elements, and injection molding produces them as one unified structure. This combining approach maintains complex functionality while simplifying manufacturing at reduced scales, as the entire assembly is formed in one step rather than requiring separate fabrication and assembly of complex small-scale components.
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
This method enables the fabrication of cuff electrodes that can be tailored for smaller nerves and muscles, enhancing their applicability in neural stimulation and recording, while maintaining design detail and scalability, thus overcoming the limitations of existing techniques.
Implementation Method 1
applying a mold material to the substrate and curing the mold material to form a mold
Implementation Method 2
pressing a formable material into the channel of the mold to form a body of an implantable cuff electrode
Implementation Method 3
curing the body of the implantable cuff electrode and releasing the body of the implantable cuff electrode from the mold
Data Source
AI summary
Methods for fabricating implantable cuff electrodes for contacting or at least partially surrounding internal body tissue such as, e.g., nerves, smooth muscles, striated muscles, arteries, veins, ligamental tissues, connective tissues, cartilage tissues, bones, or other similar body tissues, structures and organs are disclosed. An example method includes preparing a substrate including an implantable cuff electrode shape, applying a mold material to the substrate, curing the mold material to form a mold, releasing the mold from the substrate, inserting at least one conductor into the mold that penetrates through the channel of the mold, pressing a formable material into the channel of the mold to form a body of an implantable cuff electrode about the at least one conductor, curing the body of the implantable cuff electrode, and releasing the body of the implantable cuff electrode from the mold.