Injection moulding of a catheter
AssigneeUnomedical A/S
InventorsSigne Thorning Mejlhede, Steffen Gyrn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for one-piece injection molding of a soft needle catheter having a hub and a tube-shaped flexible part. According to the method, a molten polymer is fed into a mold which includes a core that is used to form the interior of the catheter, the core defining a hub cavity and a tube-shaped cavity. The hub cavity includes a cone-shaped part and a cylindrical part, with the cone-shaped part extending into the tube-shaped cavity. When the polymer is sufficiently cured, the core is removed from the catheter and the catheter is removed from the mold.
Claims21
A method for one-piece injection moulding of a soft needle catheter having a hub and a tube-shaped flexible part both formed by said one-piece injection moulding, comprising the steps of:
- feeding a molten polymer into a mould having a core which is used to form an interior of said catheter, the mould and the core together defining a hub cavity to form said hub and a tube-shaped cavity to form said tube-shaped flexible part;
- said feeding step including using a core having a cone-shaped part that extends from the hub cavity into the tube-shaped cavity and a cylindrical part extending from a distal end of said cone-shaped part to create within said tube-shaped cavity a tube-shaped flexible part having a cylindrical portion formed distal from said hub and a cone-shaped portion extending between said hub cavity and said cylindrical portion;
- removing the core from the catheter when the polymer has been sufficiently cured for the core to be removed;
- and
- removing the one-piece injection moulded soft needle catheter from the mould when the polymer has been sufficiently cured to be removed.
The method for one-piece injection moulding of a soft needle catheter having a hub and a tube-shaped flexible part both formed by said one-piece injection moulding, comprising the steps of:
- feeding a molten polymer into a mould having a core which is used to form an interior of said catheter, the mould and the core together defining a hub cavity to form said hub and a tube-shaped cavity to form said tube-shaped flexible part;
- said feeding step including using a core having a cone-shaped part that extends from the hub cavity into the tube-shaped cavity and a cylindrical part extending from a distal end of said cone-shaped part to a distal tip of said catheter to create within said tube-shaped cavity, in a single moulding step, a tube-shaped flexible part having a cylindrical portion formed distal from said hub and extending to said distal tip and a cone-shaped portion extending between said hub cavity and said cylindrical portion;
- removing the core from the catheter when the polymer has been sufficiently cured for the core to be removed;
- and
- removing the one-piece injection moulded soft needle catheter from the mould when the polymer has been sufficiently cured to be removed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.