Performances and Characteristics of Magnetically Suspended Centrifugal Blood Pump

Abstract

Magnetically suspended centrifugal blood pump has no valve and operates differently from pulsatile heart. Therefore, it is important to grasp the fluid transients in the cardiovascular system induced by the change of rotational speed of the pump. At first, unsteady characteristic of the pump was studied and unsteady factor was shown to be negligible at 1 Hz. Secondly step-wise change was given to the rotational speed of the pump in the Mock circulation, and the response in the Mock circulation was studied. On the characteristic curves of pumps and resistances the operating points shifted almost as expected. Moreover, from the corresponding variations observed in the flow rate and in the pressure at the inlet and outlet the compliances and resistances in the circulation were shown to be evaluated.