Pressure/flow characteristic modification of a centrifugal pump in a ventricular assist device
AssigneeTc1 LLC
InventorsAlexander Medvedev, Muhammad Sami
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A ventricular assist device is disclosed. The ventricular assist device may include a centrifugal pump and a controller. The controller may be configured to cause the centrifugal pump to operate at a first speed above a predetermined flow rate. The controller may also be configured to cause the centrifugal pump to operate at a second speed below the predetermined flow rate, wherein the predetermined flowrate is indicative of a crossover point between systole and diastole phases of a person's cardiac cycle.
Claims14
A ventricular assist device, comprising:
- a centrifugal pump comprising a motor;
- and
- at least one processor configured to:
- determine a flow rate through the centrifugal pump based on a current of the motor;
- cause the motor to operate at a first speed when the flow rate is greater than a predetermined flow rate during a systolic phase, wherein the predetermined flow rate corresponds with a flow rate indicative of a crossover point between the systolic phase and a diastolic phase, wherein when the motor operates at the first speed, the motor is operating a variable current;
- and
- cause the motor to operate at a second speed when the flow rate is less than the predetermined flow rate during the diastolic phase, wherein when the motor operates at the second speed, the motor is operating at one or both of a constant current and a constant speed.
A method of controlling a ventricular assist device, comprising:
- determining a flow rate through a centrifugal pump of the ventricular assist device based on a current of a motor of the centrifugal pump;
- causing a motor of the centrifugal pump to operate at a first speed when the flow rate is greater than a predetermined flow rate during a systolic phase, wherein the predetermined flow rate corresponds with a flow rate indicative of a crossover point between the systolic phase and a diastolic phase, wherein when the motor operates at the first speed, the motor is operating a variable current;
- and
- causing the motor to operate at a second speed when the flow rate is less than the predetermined flow rate during the diastolic phase, wherein when the motor operates at the second speed, the motor is operating at one or both of a constant current and a constant speed.
A non-transitory machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
- determining a flow rate through a centrifugal pump of a ventricular assist device;
- causing a motor of the centrifugal pump to operate at a first speed when the flow rate is greater than a predetermined flow rate during a systolic phase, wherein the predetermined flow rate corresponds with a flow rate indicative of a crossover point between the systolic phase and a diastolic phase, wherein when the motor operates at the first speed, the motor is operating a variable current;
- causing the motor to operate at a second speed when the flow rate is less than the predetermined flow rate during the diastolic phase, wherein when the motor operates at the second speed, the motor is operating at one or both of a constant current and a constant speed;
- detecting a suction event in the centrifugal pump;
- and
- reducing a speed of the centrifugal pump to alleviate the suction event.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.