Tapered Medical Delivery System Monolithic Joint Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional medical device delivery systems face challenges with the manufacturing time and flexibility issues due to mechanical lap joints and glued joints, which can lead to prolapse, buckling, or kinking during stent deployment, especially in tortuous vessel pathways.
Innovation Solution
A tapered inner compression member and inner guide channel member with a joint that couples the tapered portion to the inner guide channel member, providing uniform flexibility and reducing the risk of kinking or buckling by maintaining a consistent cross-sectional area, thus enhancing the delivery system's compliance and stability during deployment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If mechanical lap joints and glued joints are used to connect inner compression member and inner guide channel member, then the device can be assembled, but the manufacturing time increases and flexibility is compromised leading to prolapse, buckling, or kinking during deployment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the inner compression member and inner guide channel member into a single monolithic component formed from one piece of memory alloy material. This eliminates the need for separate joints (mechanical lap joints or glued joints) to connect the two components, thereby resolving the technical contradiction by achieving both ease of manufacture (through single-piece formation) and reliability (by eliminating joint-related flexibility issues and mechanical failures during deployment)
2Device complexity
If conventional non-tapered components are used, then the structure is simpler, but the delivery system lacks uniform flexibility and is prone to kinking or buckling in tortuous vessel pathways
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing a tapered design where the cross-sectional area of the monolithic component varies along its length. Specifically, the component has a larger cross-sectional area at the proximal end and a smaller cross-sectional area at the distal end. This localized variation in geometry provides uniform flexibility throughout the component, enabling it to navigate tortuous vessel pathways without kinking or buckling, while still maintaining relative structural simplicity through the single-piece construction
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 tapered design improves the flexibility and stability of the delivery system, reducing the risk of mechanical failures such as prolapse or buckling, allowing for smoother deployment of stents and other implantable prostheses within the body.
Implementation Method 1
A tapered inner compression member and inner guide channel member with a joint that couples the tapered portion to the inner guide channel member, providing uniform flexibility and reducing the risk of kinking or buckling by maintaining a consistent cross-sectional area
Data Source
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Figure 2A~2B
AI summary
Medical devices for delivering stents, prosthetic valve devices, and other implantable articles inside a patient's body are provided. The devices have an elongate inner compression member having a proximal end and a distal mating end with a tapered portion and outer engaging surface, a first portion proximal to the distal mating end, and the tapered portion having a smaller cross sectional area than the first portion and being more flexible than the first portion. The devices further have an inner guide channel member with a first end and a second end defining a channel of substantially uniform inner diameter, the second end having an outer diameter, and the first end having a taper extending from the second end outer diameter to a smaller second outer diameter. A joint is configured for melt bonding or implanting the inner compression member distal mating end and the inner guide channel member second end.