Sensor Guide Wire Segmented Core for Bending Artefacts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sensor guide wires for intravascular measurements face challenges with bending artefacts due to their rigidity, which affects measurement accuracy and requires time-consuming machining processes, making them costly and difficult to manufacture.
Innovation Solution
A sensor guide wire design with a significantly shorter stiff section of the core wire and reduced longitudinal extension of the jacket, enhancing flexibility and reducing bending artefacts, allowing easier insertion into tortuous vessels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the core wire has a long stiff section to support the sensor element, then the sensor mounting stability is improved, but the guide wire flexibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The core wire is segmented into a stiff proximal section and a flexible distal section. The stiff section provides stable sensor mounting support, while the flexible section enables guide wire navigation through tortuous vessels. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by spatially separating the stability requirement from the flexibility requirement.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the core wire are assigned different mechanical properties: the proximal section has high stiffness for sensor support, while the distal section has low stiffness for flexibility. This local differentiation of material properties allows the same component to satisfy both contradictory requirements in different locations.
2Reliability
If the jacket has long longitudinal extension to protect the sensor element, then the sensor protection is improved, but the guide wire flexibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The jacket is designed with segmented coverage, protecting only the critical sensor element region rather than extending along the entire guide wire length. This selective protection maintains sensor reliability while minimizing the flexibility penalty associated with long jacket extensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The jacket provides localized protection precisely where the sensor element is positioned, rather than uniform protection along the entire guide wire. This local quality approach ensures sensor protection is maintained while reducing the overall stiffness penalty.
3Manufacturing precision
If the core wire requires extra machining or wire forming for sensor mounting, then the sensor mounting precision is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The core wire diameter is changed along its length to create distinct stiff and flexible sections. This parameter change (diameter variation) provides the necessary mechanical property differentiation for sensor mounting stability and guide wire flexibility, while being manufacturable through standard processes without complex machining or wire forming.
Data Source
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AI summary
Sensor guide wire for intravascular measurements of physiological variables in a living body or of external signals, which sensor guide wire has a proximal region, a distal sensor region and a tip region, the sensor guide wire comprises a core wire having a longitudinal axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the sensor guide wire, and a sensor element arranged in the distal sensor region, the sensor element has a sensitive portion for measuring the physiological variable and to generate a sensor signal in response to said variable. The sensor element has an essentially planar main surface and has its maximal extension in the plane of the main surface, and a thickness perpendicular to the plane of the main surface, wherein the sensor element is arranged in an essentially perpendicular relation to said core wire with regard to the planar main surface of the sensor element.