Pivot wear of a centrifugal blood pump developed for circulatory assist.
We are developing a monopivot centrifugal pump for circulatory assist for a period of more than 2 weeks. The impeller is supported by a pivot bearing at one end and by a passive magnetic bearing at the other. The pivot undergoes concentrated exposure to the phenomena of wear, hemolysis, and thrombus formation. The pivot durability, especially regarding the combination of male/female pivot radii, was examined through rotating wear tests and animal tests. As a result, combinations of similar radii for the male/female pivots were found to provide improved pump durability. In the extreme case, the no-gap combination would result in no thrombus formation.
Yamane
Takashi
T
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Namiki 1-2-1, Tsukuba 305-8564, Japan. yamane.t@aist.go.jp
Nonaka
Katsunobu
K
Miyoshi
Hisashi
H
Maruyama
Osamu
O
Nishida
Masahiro
M
Kosaka
Ryo
R
Sankai
Yoshiyuki
Y
Tsutsui
Tatsuo
T
D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices / Q000009:adverse effects; D006461:Hemolysis; D012399:Rotation; D012756:Sheep; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000209:etiology