Method of fabricating a housing for an implantable medical device having integrated features

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9968793-B2
Application number	US-201715688729-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2017
Priority date	Dec 2, 2014
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

One aspect is a method of fabricating a housing for an implantable medical device, including forming a first housing portion of metal using an additive manufacturing process such that features are integrated into the first portion. A second housing portion of metal is also formed. The first and second housing portions are joining thereby sealing an internal space of the housing within first and second portions and fully containing the features such that they are hermetically sealed relative to an external space outside the housing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a housing for an implantable medical device, the method comprising:
forming a first housing portion comprising metal using an additive manufacturing process such that features are integrated into the first portion;
forming a second housing portion comprising metal; and
joining the first and second housing portions thereby sealed an internal space of the housing within first and second portions and fully containing the features such that they are hermetically sealed relative to an external space outside the housing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the additive manufacturing process comprises at least one of metal injection molding (MIM), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), stereolithography (SLA), and three-dimensional printing (3D printing).

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein additive manufacturing process comprises using at least one of Ti 6Al-4V (Grade 5 titanium), Ti 6Al-4V ELI (Grade 23 titanium), and Ti 3Al 2.5V (Grade 9 titanium) for the first and second housing portions.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the features formed in first housing portion comprise at least one of a group comprising walls, ribs, component cavities, standoffs, recesses, knuckles, and back-up bands.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein joining the first and second housing portions further comprises welding along a connection line configured immediately adjacent walls about each respective periphery of the first and second housing portions.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising forming an intermediate portion comprising metal using an additive manufacturing process such that features are integrated into the intermediate portion.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein joining the first and second housing portions further comprising joining the intermediate portion between the first and second housing such that features of the intermediate portion are contained in the interior of the housing.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the intermediate portion comprises a back-up band configured to protect components within the housing when the housing is welded.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first housing portion comprises forming a component cavity configured for holding materials of at least one component for the medical device.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising assembling materials of at least one component for the medical device into the component cavity and sealing the component cavity, characterized in that the at least one component has no housing other than the component cavity.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising placing a component in the internal space of the housing using a feature in at least one of the intermediate portion and first and second housing portions to guide the component into the proper location.

12. A method of fabricating a housing for an implantable medical device, the method comprising:
forming a first housing portion comprising metal;
forming an intermediate portion comprising metal;
forming a second housing portion comprising metal;
sealing the first housing portion to a first side of the intermediate portion thereby defining a first chamber between the first housing portion and the intermediate portion that is hermetically sealed relative to an external space outside the housing; and
wherein the forming of at least one of the first and second housing portions and the intermediate portion comprises using an additive manufacturing process such that features are integrated into at least one of the first and second housing portions and the intermediate portion and such that the features are sealed within one of the first and second chambers.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the additive manufacturing process comprises at least one of metal injection molding (MIM), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), stereolithography (SLA), and three-dimensional printing (3D printing).

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein additive manufacturing process comprises using at least one of Ti 6Al-4V (Grade 5 titanium), Ti 6Al-4V ELI (Grade 23 titanium), and Ti 3Al 2.5V (Grade 9 titanium) for the first and second housing portions.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the features formed in first housing portion comprise at least one of a group comprising walls, ribs, component cavities, standoffs, recesses, knuckles, and back-up bands.

16. The method of claim 12 , the forming of the intermediate portion comprises using an additive manufacturing process, and wherein the forming of the first and second housing portions comprises using a stamping manufacturing process.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising placing a component in at least one of the first and second chambers using a feature in at least one of the intermediate portion and first and second housing portions to guide the component into the proper location.

Assignees

• Heraeus Deutschland Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Glynn Jeremy
• Harein Steven

Classifications

• A61N1/375 Primary

  Constructional arrangements, e.g. casings · CPC title

• B22F3/225

  by injection molding · CPC title

• A61N1/37512

  Pacemakers · CPC title

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B22F2007/042

  characterised by the layer forming method · CPC title