Methods for manufacturing an implantable medical device
AssigneePacesetter, Inc.
InventorsJian Xie, Kavous Sahabi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for hermetically sealing electronic circuitry within a housing of an implantable medical device is provided. The method comprises assembling the housing having an interior cavity, joining a feed-through assembly to the housing, and joining a back-fill member to the feed-through housing. The back fill member has an opening there through communicating with the interior cavity of the housing. The housing is back-filled with an inert gas through the opening in the back-fill member, and the interior cavity is hermetically sealed by closing the opening through the back-fill member with a sealing element. The sealing element and back-fill member are formed of different first and second materials, respectively.
Claims10
A method for manufacturing an implantable medical device, comprising:
- assembling a device housing defining an interior cavity;
- joining a feed-through assembly to the device housing, the feed-through assembly including a feed-through housing and conductors held in the feed-through housing;
- joining a back-fill member to the feed-through housing, the back fill member having an opening there through communicating with the interior cavity of the device housing;
- back-filling the device housing with an inert gas through the opening in the back-fill member;
- and
- hermetically sealing the interior cavity by closing the opening through the back-fill member with a sealing element, where the sealing element and back-fill member are formed of different first and second materials, respectively;
- wherein the sealing further comprises holding the back-fill member in a support tool in a self-aligning manner when closing the opening with the sealing element, while permitting the back-fill member and device housing to self-align within the support tool while a press load is induced onto the sealing element.
A method for manufacturing an implantable medical device, comprising:
- assembling a device housing defining an interior cavity;
- joining a feed-through assembly to the device housing, the feed-through assembly including a feed-through housing and conductors held in the feed-through housing;
- joining a back-fill member to the feed-through housing, the back fill member having an opening there through communicating with the interior cavity of the device housing;
- back-filling the device housing with an inert gas through the opening in the back-fill member;
- and
- hermetically sealing the interior cavity by closing the opening through the back-fill member with a sealing element, where the sealing element and back-fill member are formed of different first and second materials, respectively;
- wherein the sealing further comprises retaining the back-fill member with a support tool that defines a support X-Y plane, inducing a press load onto the sealing element in a direction that intersects the X-Y plane and permitting the device housing to shift in at least one of the X-Y plane and a tilting direction out of the X-Y plane while the press load is induced.
A method for manufacturing an implantable medical device, comprising:
- assembling a device housing defining an interior cavity;
- joining a feed-through assembly to the device housing, the feed-through assembly including a feed-through housing and conductors held in the feed-through housing;
- joining aback-fill member to the feed-through housing, the back fill member having an opening there through communicating with the interior cavity of the device housing;
- back-filling the device housing with an inert gas through the opening in the back-fill member;
- and
- hermetically sealing the interior cavity by closing the opening through the back-fill member with a sealing element, where the sealing element and back-fill member are formed of different first and second materials, respectively;
- wherein the sealing permits the back-fill member to at least one of linearly shift and tilt while a sealing force is applied to the sealing element to deform the sealing element into the opening in the back-fill member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.