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US 12,196,210 B2Granted
Centrifugal blood pump with hydrodynamic bearing
AssigneeAbiomed Europe GmbH
InventorsThorsten Siess, Gerd Spanier
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A centrifugal blood pump without a mechanical bearing comprises a pump casing (1), an impeller (9) arranged in the pump casing rotatably about the central axis and freely movable axially and radially within a limited clearance. The impeller has per-manent magnets or permanently magnetized magnetic regions (N/S) which cooperate with an electromagnetic drive to set the impeller rotating. A circular wall (12) or circularly arranged wall sections are provided within the pump casing, their inner surfaces defining a radial clearance together with the outer circumference of the impeller to form a hydrodynamic radial bearing for the impeller.
Claims34
A centrifugal blood pump without a mechanical bearing, comprising:
- a pump casing with a central axis, a blood flow inlet disposed on the central axis and a blood flow outlet disposed on a circumference of the pump casing,
- an impeller arranged in the pump casing so as to be rotatable about the central axis and freely moveable axially and radially within an axial clearance and a radial clearance, the impeller being provided with permanent magnets or permanently magnetized magnetic regions and further with radially extending blades defining passages therebetween for radial blood flow, and
- an electromagnetic drive adapted to cooperate with the permanent magnets or the permanently magnetized magnetic regions of the impeller so as to set the impeller rotating about the central axis,
- wherein the radial clearance is 100 μm or less so as to form a hydrodynamic radial bearing for the impeller, the radial clearance being defined by an outer circumference of the impeller and an inner surface of a plurality of wall sections in a recess of the pump casing, the plurality of wall sections comprising an upper circular wall section and a lower circular wall section, the upper circular wall section and the lower circular wall section being axially spaced apart so as to form a single continuous circumferential through opening for blood to flow from the impeller towards the blood flow outlet, and each of the upper circular wall section and the lower circular wall section comprises pockets, wherein the pockets define regions of differing radial clearance such that the radial clearance is variable between the outer circumference of the impeller and the inner surface of the plurality of wall sections.
1 more element
A centrifugal blood pump without a mechanical bearing, comprising:
- a pump casing with a central axis, a blood flow inlet disposed on the central axis and a blood flow outlet disposed on a circumference of the pump casing,
- an impeller arranged in the pump casing so as to be rotatable about the central axis and freely moveable axially and radially within an axial clearance and a radial clearance, the impeller being provided with permanent magnets or permanently magnetized magnetic regions and further with radially extending blades defining passages therebetween for radial blood flow, and
- an electromagnetic drive adapted to cooperate with the permanent magnets or the permanently magnetized magnetic regions of the impeller so as to set the impeller rotating about the central axis,
- wherein the radial clearance is 100 μm or less so as to form a hydrodynamic radial bearing for the impeller, the radial clearance being defined by an outer circumference of the impeller and an inner surface of a plurality of wall sections in a recess of the pump casing, the plurality of wall sections comprising an upper circular wall section and a lower circular wall section, the upper circular wall section and the lower circular wall section being axially spaced apart so as to form a single continuous circumferential through opening for blood to flow from the impeller towards the blood flow outlet,
- wherein the impeller comprises a first disc and a second disc which are axially spaced apart from one another, each disc having permanent magnets or permanently magnetized magnetic regions and a central opening arranged for axial blood flow through the first disc and the second disc, the blades of the impeller being arranged between the first disc and the second disc, and
- wherein the disc has a plurality of circularly arranged axial through openings and wherein the blades are inserted through the circularly arranged through openings so as to extend from one axial side of the disc to the other axial side thereof.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.