Patent ID: 9084693
Filing Date: 2015-07-21
Classification: A61F,B29C,B29D,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method for crimping a polymer scaffold to a balloon, comprising: providing a crimping assembly for crimping the scaffold from a first diameter to a second diameter, the crimping assembly including a plurality of movable blades, each blade having a hardness, a first side and a second side converging to form a tip, the tips being arranged to collectively form an iris about a rotational axis, the iris defining a crimp aperture about which the movable blades are disposed; disposing a polymer material between edges of the blade tips and a scaffold surface to reduce the hardness in the blade edges; supporting the scaffold while the scaffold is disposed within the iris including inflating a balloon within the scaffold to provide interior support to the scaffold, whereby adjacent struts of the scaffold twisted irregularly by a crimper blade are supported by a balloon surface to deter one of the struts from overlapping or twisting irregularly relative to another of the struts; and displacing the plurality of movable blades from a first crimp head diameter to a second crimp head diameter to reduce the diameter of the scaffold from the first diameter to the second diameter, respectively.