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US 8,079,948 B2Granted
Article comprising an impeller
AssigneeNuCardia, Inc.
InventorJ. Michael Shifflette
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An impeller for use in conjunction with a percutaneously-insertable blood pump or other rotatable equipment includes a blade that is segmented into a plurality of overlapping or abutting bladelets. In some embodiments, the bladelets are foldable and one side of each bladelet is concave.
Claims30
An apparatus comprising an impeller, wherein the impeller comprises:
- a hub;
- and
- a first plurality of bladelets disposed on the hub, wherein the first plurality of bladelets collectively define a first blade, wherein each bladelet has a root, a tip, a pressure face and a suction face, and further wherein:
- (a) each bladelet is movable between a deployed state in which the tip thereof is relatively further from the hub and a non-deployed state in which the tip is relatively closer to the hub;
- (b) the pressure face of each bladelet is concave;
- and
- (c) the root of each bladelet is narrower than the tip of each bladelet.
4 more elements
An apparatus comprising an impeller, wherein the impeller comprises:
- a hub;
- a first blade depending from the hub;
- and
- a second blade depending from the hub and diametrically opposed to the first blade, wherein the impeller is a single-stage impeller having a single blade row, and further wherein:
- (a) the blade row comprises the first blade and the second blade;
- (b) the first blade and the second blade are segmented into bladelets, each bladelet having a root, a tip, and a pressure face;
- (c) the bladelets are widest at the tip thereof and narrowest at the root;
- (d) each bladelet is foldable proximate to the root thereof;
- and
- (e) the pressure face of each bladelet is concave.
7 more elements
An apparatus comprising an impeller, wherein the impeller comprises:
- a hub;
- and
- a first plurality of bladelets disposed on the hub, wherein the first plurality of bladelets collectively define a first blade, wherein each bladelet has a root and a tip, and further wherein each bladelet is movable between a deployed state in which the tip thereof is relatively further from the hub and a non-deployed state in which the tip is relatively closer to the hub.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.