Rotary pump with hydrodynamically suspended impeller
AssigneesVentrassist Pty Ltd., University of Technology, Sydney
InventorsJohn Campbell Woodard, Peter Andrew Watterson, Geoffrey Douglas Tansley
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Abstract
This invention relates to rotary pumps adapted, but not exclusively, for use as artificial hearts or ventricular assist devices and, in particular, discloses in preferred forms a seal-less shaft-less pump featuring open or closed (shrouded) impeller blades with the edges of the blades used as hydrodynamic thrust bearings and with electromagnetic torque provided by the interaction between magnets embedded in the blades and a rotating current pattern generated in coils fixed relative to the pump housing.
Claims104
A rotary blood pump for use in a heart assist device, said pump having an impeller suspended in use within a pump housing by hydrodynamic thrust forces generated by relative movement of said impeller with respect to and within said pump housing;
- and wherein at least one of said impeller or said 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 said impeller or said housing thereby to form a relatively moving surface pair which generates relative hydrodynamic thrust between said impeller and said housing which includes everywhere a localized thrust component substantially and everywhere normal to the plane of said first deformed surface and wherein said impeller includes blades which are tapered or non-planar, so that a thrust is created between the edges and the pump housing during relative movement there between and wherein said edges of said blades are shaped such that the gap at the leading edge of the blade is greater than at the trailing edge and thus the fluid which is drawn through the gap experiences a wedge shaped restriction which generates a thrust.
A rotary blood pump for use in a heart assist device, said pump having an impeller suspended in use within a pump housing by hydrodynamic thrust forces generated by relative movement of said impeller with respect to and within said pump housing;
- said pump comprising:
- an impeller having a plurality of blades and a hydrodynamic bearing surface;
- and a plurality of magnets, each magnet disposed within one of the blades, wherein an axis of magnetization of each of the magnets is inclined at any angle between parallel and 45° to the impeller axis of rotation.
A rotary blood pump for use in a heart assist device, said pump having an impeller suspended in use within a pump housing by hydrodynamic thrust forces generated by relative movement of said impeller with respect to and within said pump housing;
- said housing including a first stator and a second stator, wherein the impeller and the stators are angularly disposed so that the impeller and stators form a radial and axial flux gap hybrid motor.
A rotary blood pump for use in a heart assist device, said pump having an impeller suspended in use within a pump housing by hydrodynamic thrust forces generated by relative movement of said impeller with respect to and within said pump housing;
- said pump housing defining a volute therewithin;
- said impeller having a hydrodynamic bearing to provide radial or axial support or both;
- said impeller also having a magnetic bearing to provide or supplement the other of said radial or axial support or both.
A shaftless rotary blood pump for use in a heart assist device, said pump having an impeller suspended in use within a pump housing by hydrodynamic thrust forces generated by relative movement of said impeller with respect to and within said pump housing;
- and wherein said impeller includes a hydrodynamic bearing surface adapted to generate thrust, in use, in a direction towards the center of the pump.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.