Segmented Medical Tubing with Variable Flexibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical tubing technologies are limited in their ability to create tubing with variable characteristics along its length, such as flexibility and kink-resistance, as they are typically extruded from a single material in a continuous process, making it difficult to achieve specific properties in specific regions.
Innovation Solution
The development of medical tubing composed of a series of discrete, ring-shaped elements made from various materials, such as thermoplastics and metals, which are fused or bonded together to form a continuous tubular structure with varying flexural modulus, allowing for regions of flexibility and kink-resistance, and potentially including a secondary lumen and pull wire for control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If medical tubing is extruded from a single material in a continuous process, then manufacturing simplicity and productivity are maintained, but the ability to achieve variable characteristics (flexibility, kink-resistance) in specific regions is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The tubing is divided into discrete ring-shaped elements that can be individually configured with different materials and properties, then assembled and fused together to create variable characteristics along the length of the tubing. This segmentation allows each region to be optimized independently while maintaining a continuous structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the tubing can be made from different materials (e.g., flexible thermoplastic vs. rigid metal rings) to achieve specific local properties such as flexibility in certain areas and kink-resistance in others, creating a composite structure that combines multiple material advantages.
2Volume of moving object
If the tubing wall is made thin to reduce size, then the diameter to wall ratio increases, but kink-resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The thin-walled tubing is constructed from discrete ring elements that segment the wall structure, allowing the tubing to maintain thin walls for reduced size while the segmented structure prevents kinking by distributing mechanical stresses across multiple discrete elements rather than a continuous thin wall.
Solution Approach 2:
The tubing combines thin-walled sections with reinforcing elements (such as metal rings or multi-layer constructions) to achieve both reduced size and kink-resistance, creating a composite structure where the thin wall provides minimal size while the composite elements provide structural integrity and kink resistance.
3Reliability
If the tubing is made rigid to improve kink-resistance, then flexibility deteriorates, but the invention allows both properties in different regions
Solution Approach 1:
Different sections of the tubing are constructed with different material properties - some regions use rigid materials or structures for kink-resistance, while other regions use flexible materials for ease of manipulation, allowing each region to have optimized local properties for its specific function.
Solution Approach 2:
The tubing uses composite constructions combining rigid and flexible materials in a single continuous structure, allowing the rigid portions to provide kink-resistance where needed while the flexible portions maintain ease of operation, with the two material types working together as a composite system.
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 approach enables the creation of tubing with customizable properties along its length, preventing kinking and maintaining lumen size and shape, even with high diameter to wall ratios, which is not achievable with traditional extrusion methods, providing enhanced flexibility and kink-resistance for various medical applications.
Implementation Method 1
heating the plurality of ring-shaped elements to fuse them together over the support member or mandrel
Implementation Method 2
The ring-shaped elements may be metallic and may be bonded with a resilient, flexible elastomeric adhesive
Data Source
AI summary
The invention primarily is directed to a medical tubing adapted for insertion into a body tissue or cavity and method of manufacturing different variations of the tubing along a length of the tubing. The tubing comprises a plurality of individual, discrete, generally ring-shaped elements arranged in series and fused or bonded together forming a continuous tubular structure. The ring-shaped elements may include a combination of flexible and rigid ring-shaped elements assembled along different portions or sections of the tubular structure. In another aspect of the invention, the medical tubing may further comprise a secondary lumen and a pull wire to control the tubular structure. In another aspect of the invention, the ring-shaped elements may vary in diameter and/or composition in different portions or sections of the tubular structure.