Method and System for Coating a Medical Device Using Optical Drop Volume Verification

A system for applying droplets of coating material onto a medical device, the system comprising:

• a support for a medical device to be coated, the support being movable relative to a first axis;
• an applicator, the applicator being movable relative to a second axis, the second axis being parallel to the first axis, the applicator emitting droplets of coating material, each droplet having a droplet path;
• a strobe light, the strobe light being coupled to the applicator, the strobe light synchronized with the applicator so that the strobe light illuminates the at least one droplet of coating material on the droplet path after the at least one droplet has been emitted from the applicator;
• an imaging system, the imaging system being substantially perpendicular to the droplet path, the imaging system configured to capture an image of at least one droplet that has been illuminated by the strobe light, the at least one droplet being positioned on the droplet path between the applicator and the support;
• an image processing system, the image processing system configured to analyze an image obtained by the imaging system;
• a control system, the control system in communication with the applicator, the support, and the imaging system;
• and
• a user interface, the user interface in communication with the control system.

An apparatus for applying a coating material to a medical device, the apparatus comprising:

• means for determining an applied single drop volume value;
• means for calculating a total number of drops of material necessary to deposit a desired total volume of material as a function of the applied single drop volume value;
• and
• means for depositing the calculated total number of drops of material on the medical device.