Back to results
US 5,958,167 AGranted
Method of making tubing coil assemblies for medical devices
AssigneeMedtronic, Inc.
InventorsMichael R. Van Driel, Visith Chung
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Coiled medical plastic tubing is set in the coil shape by exposing it to a radio-frequency field while it is subjected to slight radially inward pressure. The amount of pressure and the power of the RF field are so adjusted as to cause the rungs of the coil to lightly stick together without deforming or weakening the coil itself.
Claims6
A method of setting tubing coils for medical equipment, comprising the steps of:
- a) winding plastic tubing into a coil on a mandrel;
- b) holding said coil with adjacent convolutions in contact with each other;
- c) lightly pressing said coil against said mandrel;
- d) subjecting said coil to a radio-frequency electric field while so pressed, said pressing being done at a sufficiently light pressure and said radio-frequency electric field being weak enough to prevent melting of said tubing, but said pressure being sufficient and said field strong enough to cause said adjacent convolutions of said coil to releasably adhere to each other;
- and
- e) removing said coil from said mandrel.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.