The prospect of a small-sized vibrating flow pump for an artificial heart

A small-sized blood pump is required for a high-performance total artificial heart. From the viewpoint of the implantation, anatomical fitting into the cavity from which the heart has been removed is very important for the design of the total artificial heart. A small, high-performance blood pump is desired for a totally implantable artificial heart system. A miniaturized blood pump is not easy to achieve because of its driving mechanism and material endurance. The stroke volume is necessarily decreased by the downsizing of a volume-displacing pump, such as a sac-type blood pump. Similarly, the centrifugal force is decreased by the downsizing of a centrifugal pump. The vibrating flow pump (VFP) is one of the inertia-type pumps, but it can make a volume flow wave by its vibrating motion. The short stroke volume and high rate of driving may be notable characteristics for the minimization of the pump. In this study, a prototype VFP was made for a basic performance test. It showed adequate performance for left ventricular assistance and also showed potential for more downsizing. The estimation of the design and the driving stroke of the vibrating tube may be the next step for an advanced VFP system.

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