Rotary pump with exclusively hydrodynamically suspended impeller
AssigneesVentrassist Pty Ltd., University of Technology at Sydney
InventorsJohn Campbell Woodard, Peter Andrew Watterson, Geoffrey Douglas Tansley
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Abstract
A pump assembly 1, 33, 200 adapted for continuous flow pumping of blood. In a particular form the pump 1, 200 is a centrifugal pump wherein the impeller 100, 204 is entirely sealed within the pump housing 2, 201 and is exclusively hydrodynamically suspended therein as the impeller rotates within the fluid 105 urged by electromagnetic means external to the pump cavity 106, 203. Hydrodynamic suspension is assisted by the impeller 100, 204 having deformities therein such as blades 8 with surfaces tapered from the leading edges 102, 223 to the trailing edges 103, 224 of bottom and top edges 221, 222 thereof.
Claims2
-17. (canceled)
A rotary blood pump for use in a heart assist device, the pump having an impeller suspended in use within a pump housing by hydrodynamic thrust forces generated by relative movement of the impeller with respect to and within the pump housing, and wherein at least one of the impeller and the housing includes at least a first deformed surface lying on at least part of a first face which, in use, moves relative to respective facing surfaces on the other of the impeller and the housing thereby to form a relatively moving surface pair which generates relative hydrodynamic thrust between the impeller and the housing which includes a localized thrust component substantially normal to the first deformed surface, and wherein the impeller and the housing have a magnetic bearing to provide or supplement the hydrodynamic thrust forces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.