Injection Molding Catheters
“Soft needle catheters can be manufactured as one-piece catheters or two-piece catheters, where the tube-shaped part and the hub are made separately. A two piece catheter is easier to manufacture but it suffers from the drawback that there is a risk of separation, especially during removal of the catheter, leaving the tube-shaped part in the body cavity. Therefore one-piece soft needle catheters are preferred.”
“Moulding of one-piece soft needle catheters is complicated due to the dimensions of the catheter. There is a risk that the tube-shaped part wrinkles during removal from the mould form either as a consequence of the withdrawal of the core creating the hollow part or as a consequence of sticking to the mould.”
[Mejihede and Gryn, US Patent 7,887,737 (2/15/2011)]
Injection Molding
Injection Molding Applications
Medicine
Processing
Recent US Patents
3/1/2011
7,896,642
Balloon folding device
Arcand of Boston Scientific Scimed, Minnesota, has developeda balloon folding device with a first die having an external contacting surface and a second die having a cavity. A balloon catheter having a primary balloon and a secondary balloon is oriented with the secondary balloon located between the first die and the second die. The secondary balloon is folded by moving the second die toward the first die until the contacting surfaces of the dies contact, fold and deflate the secondary balloon. (RDC 9/10/2011)
2/22/2011
7,892,478
Catheter balloon mold form and molding process
Zhang et al of Boston Scientific SciMed, Minnesota, has developed an immersion mold for a medical device balloon. The mold has a cavity adapted to receive a hollow parison expandable therein to form the balloon. The cavity has a length, a first end, a second end, and a cavity wall with inner and outer surfaces. The mold form cavity wall is provided with one or a plurality of through-holes along the length thereof to facilitate entrance and egress of a heated fluid for expanding the balloon. (RDC 9/5/2011)
2/15/2011
7,887,737
Injection moulding of a catheter
Mejlhede and Gyrn of Unomedical, Denmark, have developed an injection mold for a one-piece catheter consisting of a hub and a tube-shaped flexible part wherein the tube shaped flexible part has an interior which is divided in two region one being cone-shaped and one being cylindrical. (RDC 8/26/2011)