Electropolishing apparatus and method for implantable medical devices
AssigneeInnovational Holdings, LLC
InventorsStephen Hunter Diaz, Jeffrey Bruce Anderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electropolishing device for polishing a cylindrical medical device such as a stent includes anodes in the form of rollers arranged to contact an exterior surface of the device. A drive mechanism rotates the anodes periodically during the electropolishing process to change a contact point between the anodes and the medical device. A tilting mechanism can also be used for periodically tilting the anodes during the electropolishing process to allow bubbles to escape from one end of the stent.
Claims19
An electropolishing process comprising:
- placing a substantially cylindrical medical device onto a plurality of anodes in the form of rollers with the rollers contacting an exterior of the medical device;
- holding the medical device in place on the anodes with an idle roller;
- placing the medical device into an electrolytic solution;
- applying a current between the anodes and a cathode positioned in the electrolytic solution;
- and
- periodically rotating the anodes to change contact points between the anodes and the medical device;
- and
- wherein each periodic rotation of the plurality of anodes results in rotation of the medical device about one revolution about a longitudinal axis.
An electropolishing process comprising:
- placing a substantially cylindrical medical device onto a plurality of anodes in the form of rollers with the rollers contacting an exterior of the medical device;
- holding the medical device in place on the anodes with an idle roller;
- placing the medical device into an electrolytic solution;
- applying a current between the anodes and a cathode positioned in the electrolytic solution;
- and
- periodically rotating the anodes to change contact points between the anodes and the medical device;
- wherein an axis of the medical device is positioned at an angle during the electropolishing process to allow bubbles to escape from a first end of the medical device.
An electropolishing process comprising:
- placing a substantially cylindrical medical device onto a plurality of anodes in the form of rollers with the rollers contacting an exterior of the medical device;
- holding the medical device in place on the anodes with an idle roller;
- placing the medical device into an electrolytic solution;
- applying a current between the anodes and a cathode positioned in the electrolytic solution;
- and
- periodically rotating the anodes to change contact points between the anodes and the medical device;
- and
- wherein the cathode is a wire rod positioned below and running substantially perpendicular to the axis of a medical device placed on the anodes.
An electropolishing process comprising:
- placing a substantially cylindrical medical device onto a plurality of anodes in the form of rollers with the rollers contacting an exterior of the medical device;
- placing the medical device into an electrolytic solution;
- applying a current between the anodes and a cathode positioned in the electrolytic solution;
- and
- periodically turning off the current and rotating the anodes to change contact points between the anodes and the medical device.
An electropolishing process comprising:
- placing a substantially cylindrical medical device onto a plurality of anodes;
- placing the medical device into an electrolytic solution with an axis of the medical device tilted to allow bubbles to escape from a first end of the medical device;
- applying a current between the anodes and a cathode positioned in the electrolytic solution;
- and
- periodically turning off the current and tilting the medical device to change an orientation of the medical device axis to allow bubbles to escape from a second end of the medical device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.