Breast Prostheses with Phase Change Material
AssigneeAmerican Breast Care, LP
InventorsRobert Halley, Amanda Wollnick, Joachim Rechenberg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a method of making a breast prosthesis for use by a wearer having a body temperature, a plurality of dissolvable beads is placed into an open back of a breast-shaped mold. The open back of the mold is sealed. A suspension of an uncured silicone rubber liquid and a plurality of phase change material pellets is injected into the mold around the beads. The uncured silicone rubber is allowed to cure, thereby forming a breast shape. The phase change material has a latent heat of fusion at a melting point so as to remove heat from the wearer when the body temperature is at least at the melting point. The breast shape is removed from the mold and the dissolvable beads are dissolved from the breast shape.
Claims20
A method of making a breast prosthesis for use by a wearer having a body temperature, comprising the steps of:
- (a) placing a plurality of dissolvable beads into an open back of a breast-shaped mold;
- (b) sealing the open back of the mold;
- (c) injecting a suspension of an uncured silicone rubber liquid and a plurality of phase change material pellets into the mold around the beads and allowing the uncured silicone rubber to cure, thereby forming a breast shape, the phase change material having a latent heat of fusion at a melting point so as to remove heat from the wearer when the body temperature is at least at the melting point;
- and
- (d) removing the breast shape from the mold and dissolving the dissolvable beads from the breast shape.
A breast prosthesis for use by a wearer who has a body temperature, comprising:
- (a) a silicone rubber body portion having a shape corresponding to a human breast, the silicone rubber body portion defining a plurality of gas-filled voids therein;
- and
- (b) a phase change material suspended within the silicone rubber of the body portion, the phase change material having a latent heat of fusion at a melting point so as to remove heat from the wearer when the body temperature is at least at the melting point.
An external breast prosthesis for use by a wearer who has a body temperature, comprising:
- (a) a silicone rubber body portion having a shape corresponding to a human breast and that defines a plurality of gas-filled voids therein;
- (b) a paraffin phase change material suspended within the silicone rubber, the paraffin phase change material having a predetermined number of carbon atoms per molecule so as to have a latent heat of fusion at a melting point so as to remove heat from the wearer when the body temperature is at least at the melting point;
- and
- (c) an outer skin layer disposed about the silicone rubber body portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.