Compact crimping device
AssigneeEdwards Lifesciences Corporation
InventorsTomer Saar, Gregory Rinberg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed herein is a method of crimping a prosthetic heart valve using a compact crimping mechanism. The crimping mechanism includes a plurality of jaws configured for coordinated inward movement toward a crimping axis to reduce the size of a crimping iris around a stented valve. A rotating cam wheel acts on the jaws and displaces them inward. An actuation mechanism includes a lead screw, carriage assembly and a linkage to rotate the cam wheel with significant torque.
Claims20
A prosthetic valve crimping device capable of reducing the diameter of an expandable prosthetic heart valve, comprising:
- a plurality of crimping jaws in meshing engagement and circumferentially arranged around a central crimping axis, each crimping jaw having radially inner crimping wedges defining a crimping orifice and radially outer ends with two spaced apart cam followers;
- a stationary outer housing containing the crimping jaws;
- first and second cam wheels mounted to rotate within and being rotatable relative to the housing, each cam wheel having a plurality of arcuate cam slots that receive the cam followers, with each cam slot in the first cam wheel being identically radially and circumferentially positioned as a matching one of the cam slots in the second cam wheel and the matching cam slots receiving the two spaced apart cam followers in one of the crimping jaws;
- and
- a plurality of linear guide channels formed in the outer housing, wherein the crimping jaws are constrained by the guide channels such that rotation of the cam wheel causes the cam slots to act on the cam followers and displace the crimping wedges of the crimping jaws along radial lines toward the crimping axis and reduce the size of the crimping orifice, wherein a prosthetic heart valve may be positioned within the crimping orifice and acted on by the combined crimping wedges to reducing the diameter of the prosthetic heart valve.
A prosthetic valve crimping device capable of reducing the diameter of an expandable prosthetic stented valve, comprising:
- a plurality of crimping jaws in meshing engagement and circumferentially arranged around a central crimping axis, each crimping jaw having radially inner crimping wedges defining a crimping orifice and radially outer ends with two spaced apart cam followers;
- a stationary outer housing containing the crimping jaws;
- and
- first and second cam wheels mounted to rotate within and being rotatable relative to the housing, each cam wheel having a plurality of arcuate cam slots that receive the cam followers, with each cam slot in the first cam wheel being identically radially and circumferentially positioned as a matching one of the cam slots in the second cam wheel and the matching cam slots receiving the two spaced apart cam followers in one of the crimping jaws, wherein the crimping jaws are constrained by the outer housing such that rotation of the cam wheel causes the cam slots to act on the cam followers and displace the crimping wedges of the crimping jaws along radial lines toward the crimping axis and reduce the size of the crimping orifice, wherein the first and second cam wheels each have a cam lever projecting radially outward therefrom that is driven by a lead screw mounted to the housing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.