Conceptual approach of an online correction system for the stent production

Abstract: Stents are the most common form of treatment for coronary heart disease (CHD). Therefore, in Germany, in 2020, 298,557 stents were implanted. Nonetheless, they are relatively expensive. According to the German fee-per-case system, the cost of a single stent can range from 42.17 € up to 1,391.27 €. One possible reason for these costs is the lack of an automated inspection and correction system for maypole braided stents.In this paper, a concept for an online correction system of the stents’ geometry during production is proposed. In contrast to existing proposals, the concept does include the un- and re-braiding of the stent if necessary. This leads to existing errors in the stent being corrected rather than only focussing on the future braiding process. This can on the downside lead to a recursive un-braiding of the complete stent. Therefore, a recursion-prevention is included. Further, multiple options to compute the adapted take-up speed of the Mandel, including a mathematical as well as an AI-based approach, are discussed. Moreover, the concept can handle a complete description of the geometry to be produced, as well as a description based on the mandrels' take-up speed, which is more common for stent producers. All in all, the concept contains three steps. In the first steps, it is detected, if a correction is necessary and the recursion-prevention is applied. In the next step, the number of braid cells, that have to be un-braided, as well as the adapted take-up speed are computed. In the last step, the communication of the changed braiding parameters to the maypole braider, as well as the propagation of the take-up speed regarding the remaining production process, are handled.

Keywords: Stents, Braiding, Braid Control, AI, Error Correction

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1005519

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