Other

University of Utah Research Foundation

University of Virginia Patent Foundation

Medquest Products, Inc.

Michael Baloh

Don B Olsen

Gill Brent Bearnson

Pratap S Khanwilkar

James F Antaki

James W Long

Paul E Allaire

Chen Chen

Jed C Ludlow

Brad E Paden

B Ajit Kumar

Jeffrey P Decker

Ron Flack

Dave B Paden

Paul E Allarie

James W Long, Jr

Gill B Bearnson

Jeffery Decker

A pump for pumping sensitive fluids, such as blood, having no mechanical contact between the impeller and any other structure. The pump comprises a pump housing, an impeller disposed within the pump housing, a magnetic bearing system for supporting and stabilizing the impeller in five degrees of freedom, and a conformally shaped magnetically linked motor for rotating the impeller. The magnetic bearing system and motor advantageously comprise electromagnets and permanent magnets for stability and control of the impeller, and to reduce size, weight, and pump power consumption. Permanent and electromagnets are disposed on the pump housing and permanent magnets are disposed on the impeller such that by controlling electric current through the electromagnets on the housing, the magnetically suspended impeller functions as the rotor, and the housing as the stator of a D.C. motor. The system advantageously allows for sensing of relative impeller position and dynamic properties without the need for additional sensors. The fluid inlet, pump impeller, housing, and other components are configured such that flow patterns are as smooth and laminar as possible to reduce damage to the fluid, and such that eddies, flow separation, and re-circulation are reduced. In various embodiments, the pump is suitable for short or long-term implantation as a ventricular assist device or as a complete replacement heart in a human patient.

Implantable centrifugal blood pump with hybrid magnetic bearings

An inventive blood pump in accordance with this invention includes a housing that has inlet and outlet ports for receiving and discharging blood. A rotor is positioned in the housing's interior for pumping blood between the housing's inlet and outlet ports, with the rotor being capable of motion in three translational and three rotational axes. An assembly for magnetically suspending and rotating the rotor in a contact-free manner with respect to the housing includes only one electromagnetic bearing that actively controls motion of the rotor with respect to one axis selected from the rotor's three translational and three rotational axes, an electromagnetic motor that actively drives motion of the rotor with respect to one of its three rotational axes, and magnetic bearings for passively controlling motion of the rotor with respect to the remaining four of its translational and rotational axes. The inventive blood pump can also be incorporated into an artificial heart.

Pump having a magnetically suspended rotor with one active control axis

Growing community of inventors

Charlottesville, VA, United States of America

Michael Baloh