Centrifugal rotary blood pump with impeller having a hydrodynamic thrust bearing surface
AssigneeHearthware Inc.
InventorsJeffrey A. LaRose, Charles R. Shambaugh, Jr., Daniel G. White, Lisandro Rivera, Kartikeyan Trichi
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Abstract
A rotary blood pump may include one or more motor stators overlying exterior surfaces of a wall defining a pumping chamber. A rotatable impeller within the pumping chamber may have a hydrodynamic thrust bearing surface adapted to constrain a position of the impeller along an axis of rotation relative to the wall when the impeller is rotating about the axis of rotation. The impeller position may then be constrained without requiring a constant polarity magnetic force to be applied in the axial direction from a fixed position of the housing.
Claims25
A rotary blood pump comprising:
- a housing having a pumping chamber defined by a wall;
- at least one annular electromagnetic motor stator overlying an exterior surface of the wall;
- a rotatable impeller within the pumping chamber having a plurality of spaced apart impeller bodies, each impeller body having a pair of straight side walls of unequal length, the side walls of each impeller body extending from an inner edge to respective peripheral edges of each impeller body, the inner edge being forward of the peripheral edges in the direction of rotation of the impeller;
- and
- supports connecting the side walls of each impeller body to the side walls of adjacent impeller bodies proximal to the peripheral edges of each impeller body, the supports defining a ring having an outer circumference and an inner circumference, the side walls of each impeller body extending from the outer circumference and intersecting the inner circumference.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.