The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 12, 1998
Filed:
Nov. 08, 1995
William J Weiss, Mechanicsburg, PA (US);
The Penn State Research Foundation, University Park, PA (US);
Abstract
An artificial heart assembly, designed for implantation into a subject, which may be a total artificial heart or a ventricular assist device. The artificial heart assembly has a blood inlet conduit, a blood outlet conduit, a pumping mechanism for pumping blood from the blood inlet conduit to the blood outlet conduit, and a sensorless, DC brushless motor operatively connected to the pumping mechanism. The motor is reversibly driven in a first direction and a second direction, the motor changing between the first and second directions at a rate of at least 30 times per minute. The artificial heart assembly has means for periodically applying electrical signals to a plurality of the motor terminals while leaving at least one of the motor terminals unenergized, means for detecting a voltage at the unenergized motor terminal, and means for determining, based upon the voltage at the unenergized terminal, the angular position of the rotor with respect to the stator.