Artificial hearts with permanent magnet bearings

A dual outlet rotary blood pump comprising;

• a. a housing having a central inlet through which blood enters and two outlets through which blood is ejected,
• b. a rotor disposed for rotation within said housing upon which two pump impellers are mounted,
• c. bearing means supporting said rotor for rotation within said housing,
• d. said impellers configured such that rotation of the rotor in one direction pumps blood from the central opening to both outlets,
• e. power means to impart rotational force to said rotor and thereby actuate said pump, and,
• f. connector means to surgically affix said blood pump to the vascular system so as to provide relatively low pressure blood to the central inlet and to connect each outlet to blood vessels at arterial pressure such that the thrust load on each impeller acts to counterbalance the thrust load on the other impeller.

A bearing and rotor system adapted to carry and drive the impeller of a rotary pump comprising;

• a. a stationary frame having permanent magnets affixed thereto,
• b. a rotor having permanent magnets mounted thereupon in a configuration that provides radial magnetic bearing support forces in combination with the magnetic fields produced by said permanent magnets mounted on said stationary frame,
• c. thrust bearing means mounted on the stationary frame and on each end of the rotor configured to confine the rotor axially in a position where it is radially supported by said magnetic radial bearing forces, and is free to rotate about its axis,
• in which mechanical radial position limiting means are provided, said means comprising mechanical radial bearing means having so large a gap between rotating and stationary components thereof that radial displacement of the rotor must exceed the radial displacement under usual magnetically supported radial load conditions before mechanical contact of the limiting means can occur.

A rotary blood pump comprising;

• a. a blood pumping rotor contained in a pump housing,
• b. permanent magnetic bearing means adapted to support the radial load of the rotor without any electromagnetic radial bearing components,
• c. mechanical or a combination of mechanical and permanent magnet axial thrust bearing means adapted to function without any electromagnetic thrust bearing components,
• d. power means to rotate the rotor and thereby pump the blood.