Patent US5064432A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
← Back to Patent Explorer
US5064432A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Bicurved leaflet(s) prosthetic heart valve

Assignee: Republic Medical Products Inc
•
Filing: 1990-05-25
•
Granted: 1991-11-12
•
Expires: 2010-05-25
📄 Original PDF 🌐 Google Patents 🔄 Sync Now

Abstract

Abstract A mechanical artificial heart valve is provided and consists of an annular shaped orifice, to which a single (or multiple) bicurved leaflet(s) is (are) hinged. The curves are planar and are generated from two intersecting circular arcs. The valve is constructed to cause a predominately accelerating flow through the orifice. This significantly reduces the flow separation from the leaflets. In addition, the leaflets are shaped so as to reduce the closing reflux volume through the orifice during the regurgitation phase of flow. These improvements tend to significantly decrease the work load on the heart.

Inventors

  • 👤 Thomas H. Reif

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-23 16:55
CPC Classifications
A; A61; A61F; A61F2/00; A61F2/02; A61F2/24; A61F2/2403

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 5
Claim 1
Independent Claim 251 words
A mechanical artificial heart valve comprising: a) one or more leaflets, b) means forming an annular shaped orifice, c) said leaflets being attached to said means forming the orifice, said attachment via a pivot being eccentrically hinged, d) said leaflets being bicurved in shape, said curvatures being formed by intersecting circular arcs, with which said circular arcs sweep two chords and each arc forms a small semi-circular shaped air foil with cambers, said two arcs intersecting where two generating circles contact and as the two generating circles contact, the two chords are other than parallel; e) a tangent to an arc at a leading edge of said leaflets being parallel to forward flow during valve open positioning, f) a tangent to an arc at a trailing edge of said leaflets also being parallel to forward flow during valve open positioning, g) a ratio of the chord of the leading edge arc to the chord of trailing edge arc of said leaflets being definitely less than 1, and h) the forward flow through the heart valve remaining attached to the said leaflet because of the predominantly accelerating flow through the said orifice; radii of curvatures of intersecting circular arcs being unequal; and two generating circles for a leaflet intersect at more than one point so that cords c 1 and c 2 are other than parallel to cause the effective angle of attack B to be other than equal to the angle formed by the chords c 1 and c 2 .
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 251 words
A mechanical artificial heart valve comprising: a) one or more leaflets, b) means forming an annular shaped orifice, c) said leaflets being attached to said means forming the orifice, said attachment via a pivot being eccentrically hinged, d) said leaflets being bicurved in shape, said curvatures being formed by intersecting circular arcs, with which said circular arcs sweep two chords and each arc forms a small semi-circular shaped air foil with cambers, said two arcs intersecting where two generating circles contact and as the two generating circles contact, the two chords are other than parallel; e) a tangent to an arc at a leading edge of said leaflets being parallel to forward flow during valve open positioning, f) a tangent to an arc at a trailing edge of said leaflets also being parallel to forward flow during valve open positioning, g) a ratio of the chord of the leading edge arc to the chord of trailing edge arc of said leaflets being definitely less than 1, and h) the forward flow through the heart valve remaining attached to the said leaflet because of the predominantly accelerating flow through the said orifice; radii of curvatures of intersecting circular arcs being unequal; and two generating circles for a leaflet intersect at more than one point so that cords c 1 and c 2 are other than parallel to cause the effective angle of attack B to be other than equal to the angle formed by the chords c 1 and c 2 .
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 47 words
A mechanical artificial heart valve in accordance with claim 1, wherein the effective chord length c forms a triangle with chords c 1 and c 2 and pertinent mathematical relationships are f.sub.i =0.5c.sub.i tan(B.sub.i /2), R.sub.i =(c.sub.i.sup.2 +4f.sub.i.sup.2)/(8f.sub.i), c sin(B)=c.sub.1 sin(B.sub.1)+c.sub.2 sin(B.sub.2), and cos(B-B.sub.2)=(c.sub.2.sup.2 +c.sup.2 -c.sub.1.sup.2)/(2c.sub.2 c).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 20 words
A mechanical artificial heart valve in accordance with claim 2, wherein said leaflet includes edges lying in a single plane.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 75 words
A mechanical artificial heart valve in accordance with claim 2, wherein said leaflet at least in part has a planar configuration and since ratio of the chords c 1 and c 2 is less than one and before significant separation effect can occur on one side of the leaflet, the curvature begins to change in an opposite direction thus to attain reduced separation effect with consequently smaller pressure losses, reduced regurgitation, and ease of manufacture.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

USRE31040E Cited
US4276658A Cited
US4240161A Cited
US4775378A Cited
US4799930A Cited
US4846830A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1994-11-11 1995-05-13 1995-11-12 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1998-11-11 1999-05-13 1999-11-12 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2002-11-11 2003-05-13 2003-11-12 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

Assigned Categories & Tags

No categories assigned to this patent yet.

Assign Category Tag