Patent ID: 8573150

Claim:
Apparatus for creating a coating on the outer surface of a stent whose tubular structure is composed of linked stent skeletal elements, comprising (a) a support element adapted to support a stent during a coating operation, (b) a dispenser having an dispensing head adapted for dispensing a liquid stream of coating material at a selected rate, as the dispensing head moves relative to the support element, (c) first and second electromechanical devices respectively adapted for (i) synchronously rotating the support element at a selected rotational speed, and (ii) moving the dispensing head relative to the support element in a direction along said support element axis, (d) an imaging system adapted to capture a representation of such a stent, and (e) a control unit operatively connected to the imaging system and to the first and the second electromechanical devices, wherein the control unit is configured to: (e1) processing the representation obtained with the imaging system to determine: (i) paths along the stent skeletal elements by which a stent secured to the support are traversed by the dispenser head, in one or more passes, such that some or all of the stent skeletal elements will be traversed, (ii) relative speeds of the support element and dispenser head as said paths are traversed, and (iii) positions of the dispenser head with respect to a centerline of the stent skeletal elements, as said paths are traversed; and (e2) synchronously activating the first and second electromechanical devices in order to move the dispensing head relative to support element along the paths and with the relative speeds and positions determined in (e1), wherein determining the relative speed of the dispenser of step (e)(e1)(ii) comprises determining speed coefficients between points that define the centerline according to features of the stent.