Rotary blood pump and control system therefor
AssigneeThoratec Corporation
InventorsPeter Joseph Ayre, Geoffrey Douglas Tansley, Peter Andrew Watterson, John Campbell Woodard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pump assembly and estimation and control system therefor, the pump adapted for continuous flow pumping of blood. In a particular form, the pump is a centrifugal pump wherein the impeller is entirely sealed within the pump housing and is exclusively hydrodynamically suspended therein against movement in three translational and two rotational degrees of freedom as the impeller rotates within the fluid urged by electromagnetic means external to the pump cavity. Hydrodynamic suspension is assisted by the impeller having deformities therein such as blades with surfaces tapered from the leading edges to the trailing edges of bottom and top surfaces thereof.
Claims19
An estimation and control system and rotary blood pump, comprising:
- a shaftless impeller located within a pump cavity in a pump housing, the housing having a fluid inlet and fluid outlet in fluid communication with the pump cavity;
- an impeller drive to rotate the impeller about an impeller axis so as to urge fluid from the inlet through the pump cavity to the outlet, wherein the impeller drive generates a drive torque on the impeller derived from a magnetic interaction between permanent magnets within the impeller and oscillating currents in windings encapsulated within the pump housing;
- and
- a controller configured to receive at least first and second input variables derived from the impeller drive and to calculate an operating point using the at least first and second input variables, and
- the controller configured to control the pump by comparing a predetermined operating point with the calculated operating point and by acting on the impeller drive so that the pump is maintainable at or near the predetermined operating point.
An estimation and control system for a rotary blood pump of the type having an impeller, the estimation and control system comprising:
- an impeller drive including a commutator and windings, wherein the commutator is configured to generate an oscillating current within the windings to thereby produce a rotating magnetic field for driving permanent magnets in the impeller;
- a controller configured to detect at least a voltage from the commutator and current in the windings to thereby derive a power input consumed by the impeller drive, and to calculate an operating point of the pump using at least the power input and current in the windings;
- and
- the controller is configured to control the pump by comparing a predetermined operating point with the calculated operating point.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.