Patent ID: 8052735
Filing Date: 2011-11-08
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
1. An expandable medical device comprising: a plurality of elongated beams having a thickness in the radial direction and a width, the plurality of elongated beams joined together to form a substantially cylindrical device which is expandable from a first diameter to a second diameter and; a plurality of ductile hinges having a thickness in the radial direction and a width, the plurality of ductile hinges connecting the plurality of beams together in the substantially cylindrical device, wherein the hinge width is smaller than the beam width such that as the device is expanded from the first diameter to the second diameter the ductile hinges experience plastic deformation while the beams are not plastically deformed, each of the ductile hinges being in the shape of a curved prismatic beam having first and second arcuate surfaces facing the same direction with the second arcuate surface being larger than the first arcuate surface, the curved beams being positioned such that during expansion tensile strain is distributed along the second arcuate surface of the curved prismatic beam, wherein the ductile hinges are asymmetrically configured to reach a predetermined strain level upon a first percentage of expansion and to reach the predetermined strain level upon a second percentage of compression, wherein the first percentage is larger than the second percentage.