Airway valve apparatus
AssigneeGyrus ACMI, Inc.
InventorsBrandon Shuman, Clint Finger, Lisa Lauer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An airway valve apparatus 10 for at least partially sealing an airway 30 of a subject 40 comprising: a hub 50; a plurality of anchor struts 60 disposed about and in communication with the hub; a plurality of support struts 70 disposed about and in communication with the hub; one or more membranes that are in communication with the plurality of anchor struts, the plurality of support struts, or both; and wherein the anchor struts include one or more anchor elements 62 disposed at a distal end of the anchor struts, the one or more anchor elements configured to engage a wall 32 of the airway.
Claims19
An airway valve apparatus for at least partially sealing an airway of a subject comprising:
- a hub;
- a plurality of anchor struts disposed about a periphery of the hub and extending from a proximal anchor end that is directly affixed to the hub to a distal anchor end that is distal from the hub, each anchor strut of the plurality of anchor struts including a first stiffness;
- a plurality of support struts disposed about the periphery of the hub and extending from a proximal support end that is directly affixed to the hub to a distal support end that is distal from the hub, each support strut of the plurality of support struts including a second stiffness value, wherein the second stiffness value is less than the first stiffness value;
- one or more membranes extending distally away from the hub and covering the plurality of anchor struts and the plurality of support struts;
- and
- wherein individual distal anchor ends of the plurality of anchor struts include a free terminal end covered by the one or more membranes and each free terminal end includes one or more anchor elements extending through the one or more membranes, the one or more anchor elements configured to engage a wall of the airway.
An airway valve apparatus comprising:
- a hub;
- a plurality of support struts distributed radially around a periphery of a distal end of the hub and each support strut of the plurality of support struts extending from a proximal anchor end that is directly affixed to the hub distally in a semi-circular shape;
- a plurality of anchor struts distributed radially around the periphery of the distal end of the hub, each anchor strut of the plurality of anchor struts extending distally from a first end coupled to the hub in a semi-circular arc to a distal end including an arrow-shaped anchor element and each anchor strut is separated from an adjacent anchor strut by two support struts of the plurality of support struts;
- and
- a membrane extending distally away from the hub and covering the plurality of anchor struts and the plurality of support struts,
- wherein upon deployment the plurality of support struts, the plurality of anchor struts and the membrane combine to form a semi-circular shape extending from the hub, and wherein the membrane is affixed to an outer surface of an entire length of the plurality of support struts and the plurality of anchor struts with the arrow-shaped anchor element on the distal end of each anchor strut extending through the membrane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.