Adaptive speed control algorithms and controllers for optimizing flow in ventricular assist devices

A method of controlling a rotation rate of a blood pump of a ventricular assist device, the method comprising:

• controlling, by a controller, a rotation rate of the blood pump in accordance with a first operational mode to pump blood from a ventricle of a patient to an artery of the patient;
• monitoring, by the controller, a blood flow rate through the blood pump;
• based on the blood flow rate through the blood pump, projecting, by the controller, that the blood flow rate through the blood pump would decrease below a target minimum blood flow rate during a first cardiac cycle ventricular diastole if the rotation rate of the blood pump is controlled in accordance with the first operational mode during the first cardiac cycle ventricular diastole;
• in response to the projection that the blood flow rate through the blood pump would decrease below the target minimum blood flow rate during the first cardiac cycle ventricular diastole, increasing, by the controller, the rotation rate of the blood pump relative to the rotation rate of the blood pump in accordance with the first operational mode to prevent the blood flow rate through the blood pump from dropping below the target minimum blood flow rate;
• based on the blood flow rate through the blood pump, projecting, by the controller, that the blood flow rate through the blood pump would not decrease below a target minimum blood flow rate during a second cardiac cycle ventricular diastole if the rotation rate of the blood pump is controlled in accordance with the first operational mode during the second cardiac cycle ventricular diastole;
• and
• in response to the projection that the blood flow rate through the blood pump would not decrease below the target minimum blood flow rate during the second cardiac cycle ventricular diastole, continue controlling, by the controller, the rotation rate of the blood pump in accordance with the first operational mode during the second cardiac cycle ventricular diastole.