A heart pump based on a soft blade and a method for adjusting the stiffness of the soft blade

Abstract

The present application provides a heart pump based on a soft blade and a method for adjusting the stiffness of the soft blade, which relates to the technical field of mechanical engineering. The heart pump includes: an impeller and a soft blade, and the soft blade is arranged on the impeller; the impeller is connected to a motor. In this solution, the blade is a soft blade, which can reduce the impact damage of the blade on the blood and blood cells in the artificial heart pump and its impact on the physiological environment in the heart.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of mechanical engineering, and particularly relates to a heart pump based on a soft blade and a method for adjusting the stiffness of the soft blade. Background Art

[0002] An artificial heart pump is a device that can assist or replace the blood pumping function of the heart. The development of artificial heart pumps mainly goes through three stages: the first-generation bionic pulsatile artificial heart pump, the second-generation rotary artificial heart pump, and the third-generation magnetic levitation artificial heart pump. Among them, the second-generation and third-generation artificial heart pumps are both vane type, including parts such as a pump body, a driving device, and a control device. The artificial heart pump drives the impeller to rotate through a motor, and the axial force or circumferential force generated by the rotation of the blades drives the blood flow in the pump, thereby realizing the blood pumping function.

[0003] Existing axial flow, centrifugal flow, mixed flow, and magnetic levitation artificial heart pumps are all vane type, and vane type artificial heart pumps all adopt rigid material blades (such as metals, ceramics, etc.). The impact effects such as shear stress exerted on blood cells by the high-speed rotation of the blades cause damage to blood cells, and further lead to complications such as hemolysis and thrombosis. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of the embodiments of this specification is to provide a heart pump based on a soft blade and a method for adjusting the stiffness of the soft blade, so as to solve the problem that the impact effects such as shear stress exerted on blood cells by the high-speed rotation of rigid blades in the prior art cause damage to blood cells.

[0005] To solve the above technical problems, the embodiments of the present application are implemented in the following ways:

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a heart pump based on a soft blade, and the heart pump includes:

[0007] An impeller and a soft blade, and the soft blade is arranged on the impeller;

[0008] The impeller is connected to the motor.

[0009] In one embodiment, a cavity is provided in the soft blade;

[0010] A hydraulic cylinder is provided in the impeller, and the hydraulic cylinder is communicated with the cavity.

[0011] In one embodiment, there are at least two soft blades.

[0012] In one embodiment, a cavity is provided in each soft blade;

[0013] The number of hydraulic cylinders is equal to the number of cavities.

[0014] In one embodiment, the soft blade is a silicone blade or a hydrogel blade.

[0015] In one embodiment, the soft blade is obtained by 3D printing.

[0016] In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for adjusting the stiffness of a soft blade, the method comprising:

[0017] Adjusting the stiffness of the soft blade by adjusting the rotational speed of the rotor in the motor.

[0018] In one embodiment, adjusting the stiffness of the soft blade by adjusting the rotational speed of the rotor in the motor includes:

[0019] Increasing the rotational speed of the rotor to increase the stiffness of the soft blade;

[0020] Decreasing the rotational speed of the rotor to decrease the stiffness of the soft blade.

[0021] As can be seen from the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this specification above, in this solution: the blade uses a soft blade, which can reduce the impact damage of the blade on the blood and blood cells in the artificial heart pump and its impact on the physiological environment in the heart. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this specification or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments recorded in this specification. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0023] Figure 1 Structural schematic diagram of a heart pump based on a soft blade provided by the present application;

[0024] Figure 2 Side view of a heart pump based on a soft blade provided by the present application;

[0025] Figure 3 Structural schematic diagram of a soft blade provided by the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0026] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in this specification, the following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of this specification. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this specification, rather than all the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in this specification without creative efforts shall fall within the scope of protection of this specification.

[0027] In the following description, specific details such as specific system architectures and technologies are presented for the purpose of illustration rather than limitation, so as to thoroughly understand the embodiments of this application. However, those skilled in the art should clearly understand that this application can also be implemented in other embodiments without these specific details. In other cases, detailed descriptions of well-known systems, devices, circuits, and methods are omitted to avoid unnecessary details from interfering with the description of this application.

[0028] Without departing from the scope or spirit of this application, various improvements and changes can be made to the specific embodiments of this application's specification, which are obvious to those skilled in the art. Other embodiments obtained from this application's specification are obvious to those skilled in the art. This application's specification and embodiments are merely exemplary.

[0029] Regarding the use of "comprising", "including", "having", "containing", etc. in this article, they are all open-ended terms, meaning including but not limited to.

[0030] In this application, "parts" are counted by mass parts unless otherwise specified.

[0031] In the related art, rigid materials (such as metals, ceramics, etc.) are used as the blades of artificial heart pumps. Since rigid materials cause damage to blood cells in a high-speed moving state, complications such as hemolysis and thrombosis are caused.

[0032] Based on the above defects, this application proposes a heart pump based on soft blades to reduce the impact and damage of the blades on blood and blood cells and their impact on the physiological environment in the heart.

[0033] The following further details the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0034] Refer to Figure 1 , which shows a schematic structural diagram of a heart pump based on soft blades suitable for the embodiments provided in this application.

[0035] As Figure 1 shown, a heart pump based on soft blades may include:

[0036] An impeller 2 and a soft blade 1, the soft blade 1 is arranged on the impeller 2;

[0037] The impeller 2 is connected to an electric motor ( Figure 1 not shown in the figure).

[0038] Among them, the soft blade can also be called a flexible blade. The soft blade or flexible blade can be a blade made of silicone, hydrogel and other similar soft or flexible materials. Optionally, the soft blade can be a silicone blade or a hydrogel blade. Optionally, the soft blade can be obtained by 3D printing.

[0039] Among them, a through hole is opened in the center of the impeller 2, through which blood flow can pass.

[0040] A soft blade is arranged on the impeller of the heart pump. The rotation of the electric motor drives the flexible or soft blade to rotate. The axial force or circumferential force generated by the rotation of the blade drives the blood flow in the pump, thereby realizing the blood pumping function.

[0041] The heart pump based on soft blades provided by the embodiments of the present application uses soft blades, which can reduce the impact damage of the blades on the blood and blood cells in the artificial heart pump and its impact on the physiological environment in the heart.

[0042] Refer to Figure 2 , which shows a side view of the heart pump based on soft blades provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0043] As Figure 2 shown, a cavity 1-1 is provided in the soft blade 1, as Figure 3 shown; a hydraulic cylinder 2-1 is provided in the impeller 2, and the hydraulic cylinder 2-1 is communicated with the cavity 1-1.

[0044] Among them, there are at least two soft blades 1. Exemplarily, 5 soft blades 1 are arranged on the impeller 2. A cavity 1-1 is provided in each soft blade 1; the number of the hydraulic cylinders 2-1 is equal to the number of the cavities 1-1.

[0045] Specifically, the hydraulic cylinder 2-1 can adopt a micro hydraulic cylinder, including a piston 2-1-1 and a cavity 2-1-2, and the piston 2-1-1 can move in the cavity 2-1-2.

[0046] A cavity is provided in the soft blade, a hydraulic cylinder is provided in the impeller, and the hydraulic cylinder is communicated with the cavity. The rotation of the impeller driven by the electric motor drives the hydraulic cylinder to work, so that the pressure in the cavity of the soft blade changes, thereby adjusting the stiffness of the soft blade.

[0047] The heart pump based on a soft blade provided by an embodiment of the present application can adjust the stiffness of the soft blade by changing the pressure change in the cavity of the soft blade, so as to meet the different stiffness requirements of different people for the soft blade.

[0048] The present application also provides a method for adjusting the stiffness of the soft blade provided in the above embodiment, which may include: adjusting the stiffness of the soft blade by adjusting the rotation speed of the rotor in the motor. Specifically, the stiffness of the soft blade is increased by increasing the rotation speed of the rotor; the stiffness of the soft blade is decreased by decreasing the rotation speed of the rotor.

[0049] Specifically, the greater the rotation speed of the rotor of the motor, the greater the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the impeller, and the greater the pressure in the hydraulic cylinder. Since the hydraulic cylinder is connected to the cavity, the pressure in the cavity also increases, which will increase the stiffness of the soft blade. Therefore, the stiffness of the soft blade can be increased by increasing the rotation speed of the rotor. On the contrary, the stiffness of the soft blade can be decreased by decreasing the rotation speed of the rotor.

[0050] It should be noted that the term "including", "comprising" or any other variant thereof is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, commodity or device including a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not expressly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, commodity or device. Without further limitations, an element defined by the statement "including one..." does not exclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, commodity or device including the element.

[0051] Each embodiment in this specification is described in a progressive manner. The same or similar parts between the embodiments can be referred to each other, and the key points of each embodiment are the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the system embodiment, since it is basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the description of the method embodiment.

Claims

1. A heart pump based on a soft blade, characterized in that, The heart pump includes: An impeller and soft blades, the soft blades being arranged on the impeller; The impeller is connected to a motor; The method for adjusting the stiffness of the soft blades includes: Adjusting the stiffness of the soft blades by adjusting the rotational speed of the rotor in the motor; A cavity is provided in the soft blades, and a hydraulic cylinder is provided in the impeller. The hydraulic cylinder is communicated with the cavity. The rotation of the impeller driven by the motor causes the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the impeller to drive the hydraulic cylinder to work, so that the pressure in the cavity of the soft blades changes, thereby adjusting the stiffness of the soft blades.

2. The heart pump according to claim 1, wherein There are at least two soft blades.

3. The heart pump according to claim 2, wherein A cavity is provided in each of the soft blades; The number of the hydraulic cylinders is equal to the number of the cavities.

4. The heart pump according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The soft blades are silicone blades or hydrogel blades.

5. The heart pump according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The soft blades are obtained by 3D printing.

6. The heart pump according to claim 1, characterized in that, The adjusting the stiffness of the soft blades by adjusting the rotational speed of the rotor in the motor includes: Increasing the stiffness of the soft blades by increasing the rotational speed of the rotor; Decreasing the stiffness of the soft blades by decreasing the rotational speed of the rotor.

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