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:
Sep. 13, 2005
Filed:
Dec. 19, 2001
Phillip G. Wapner, Palmdale, CA (US);
Wesley P. Hoffman, Palmdale, CA (US);
Phillip G. Wapner, Palmdale, CA (US);
Wesley P. Hoffman, Palmdale, CA (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
In the present invention, a technique is described for manufacturing microtube devices which have peripheral geometries that are not uniform along the tube or device axis. These geometries may exist in only one location on the periphery of the microtube device or geometries may be repeated either uniformly or non-uniformly with micron or sub-micron precision along the tube or device axis. The preferred manufacturing process involves forming a complex mandrel, ie., (one, for example, that can not be formed by extrusion or pultrusion under constant processing conditions) and giving it at least one metallic and/or nonmetallic coating by any of a variety of techniques. The complex mandrel can then be removed by appropriate chemical or physical means that do not adversely affect the coating(s) desired for the wall. The result is a microtube structure having an axial profile duplicating that on the mandrel from which it was formed.