US 11,918,766 B2
Steerable intra-luminal medical device
Daniel H. Kim, Houston, TX (US); Dong Suk Shin, Houston, TX (US); and Viljar Palmre, Pearland, TX (US)
Assigned to BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM, Austin, TX (US)
Filed by BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM, Austin, TX (US)
Filed on Feb. 17, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/792,765.
Application 16/792,765 is a division of application No. 15/562,690, granted, now 10,960,182, previously published as PCT/US2017/016513, filed on Feb. 3, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/292,064, filed on Feb. 5, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2020/0179654 A1, Jun. 11, 2020
Int. Cl. A61M 25/01 (2006.01); A61L 29/04 (2006.01); A61M 25/00 (2006.01); A61M 25/09 (2006.01)
CPC A61M 25/0158 (2013.01) [A61L 29/041 (2013.01); A61M 25/0009 (2013.01); A61M 25/0113 (2013.01); A61M 25/09041 (2013.01); A61M 2025/0042 (2013.01); A61M 2025/0058 (2013.01); A61M 2025/09133 (2013.01); A61M 2025/09175 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of preparing a polymer electrolyte layer in tubular shape, comprising:
providing a mandrel having a diameter and an outer circumference of a desired size for the polymer electrolyte layer;
providing a substrate having a flattened surface and a length, the length of the substrate greater than the circumference of the mandrel;
providing a volume of a liquid dispersion of a base material selected from the group consisting of fluoropolymers and intrinsically conducting polymers;
disposing the liquid dispersion on the substrate;
curing the liquid dispersion of the selected base material to form, on the substrate, a cured polymer film having a first generally flat surface, a second generally flat surface opposed to the first surface, a length greater than the circumference of the mandrel, and a thickness of between 10 microns and 50 microns;
placing the first surface of the cured polymer film against the outer circumference of the mandrel and wrapping the cured polymer film onto a portion of the outer surface of the mandrel to cover the outer surface of the mandrel, and continue wrapping the cured polymer film over the mandrel and over the polymer film previously wrapped over the mandrel to provide a generally tubular sleeve formed of a plurality of layers of the cured polymer film; and
providing a heat-shrink tube;
covering a portion of the mandrel and the generally tubular sleeve thereon with the heat shrink tube; and
heating the heat-shrink tube to cause reflow of the cured polymer film to form a homogenous tubular polymer electrolyte layer.