The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 16, 2000
Filed:
Dec. 30, 1998
Medical Carbon Research Institute, LLC, Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for proof testing an assembled mechanical heart valve prosthesis having a valve body and at least one movable occluder wherein at least one of the components has a surface of nonmetallic crystalline material, such as pyrocarbon, in which microcrack growth may occur. The assembled valve prosthesis is subjected to fluid loading with the occluder in the closed position so as to create omnidirectional pressure of at least 20 psig therewithin on the downstream side of the occluder. During fluid loading of the assembled valve, acoustic monitoring is carried out using a transducer to detect sounds that are indicative of crack nucleation and/or incremental crack extension, based upon a predetermined fail-pass criterion. Any valve prosthesis wherein sounds of a greater magnitude are detected is rejected.