Pump having a control device, and method for determining the position of a rotor

Abstract

The invention relates to a pump comprising: a pump chamber (2) in which a rotor (1) is arranged, which rotor is mounted in at least one bearing (14, 14', 15, 15') so as to be rotatable about an axis of rotation (3) and has at least one rotor magnet (8, 9) and at least one delivery element (1a, 1b) for delivering a liquid, in particular blood; a stator having a plurality of drive coils (5, 6); and a control device (7); wherein: the rotor has an at least partially electrically conductive target (18) in the form of a body through which measuring alternating magnetic fields, generated by an alternating magnetic field source, can pass; the pump has one or more receiving coils; and the control device is designed to determine a position of the rotor (1) from corresponding alternating voltages and alternating currents. The invention also relates to a method for determining the position of the rotor.

Description

[0001] Pump with a control device and method for determining the position of a rotor

[0002] The invention is in the field of sensor technology, in particular mechanical engineering, electronics and medical technology. Preferred applications are pumps and

[0003] engines.

[0004] Many pumps have motor-driven rotors that contain or carry conveying elements for the fluids being pumped. Such rotors are often surrounded by the fluids being pumped and, at any rate, come into contact with them. Depending on the pump load, varying forces act on a pump rotor. For various reasons, it is generally desirable to determine the position of a pump rotor as reliably and with reasonable effort as possible.

[0005] This is of particular interest for pneumatically, hydraulically or magnetically mounted rotors.

[0006] For this purpose, magnetic field sensors, such as Hall sensors, are often used. These sensors use magnetic interaction to determine the position of a component interacting with the sensor relative to the sensor. The use of eddy current sensors for position measurement is also generally known.

[0007] For example, European patent EP2507613 B1 discloses a blood pump with a rotor in which a position of the rotor in the axial direction around which the rotor rotates during operation is determined using several eddy current sensors. The disadvantages of this are particularly the additional installation space and the additional connecting cables for the sensor coils.

[0008] From the document US2022 / 0409878 Al, various measures and methods for measuring the position of a rotor in a blood pump are already known.

[0009] Against the background of the prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide a pump with a rotor in which the position of the rotor can be determined as reliably as possible with little effort.

[0010] The problem is solved by the invention with the features of the independent patent claims. The dependent patent claims present possible implementations.

[0011] The invention relates, inter alia, to a pump, in particular a blood pump, comprising a pump chamber in which a rotor mounted rotatably about a rotational axis is arranged, having at least one conveying element for conveying a liquid, in particular blood, a wall surrounding the pump chamber, a stator having a plurality of drive coils for generating a drive magnetic field, which is designed to drive a rotational movement of the rotor, and a control device designed to generate drive currents in the drive coils for the rotational drive of the rotor, wherein the rotor has an at least partially electrically conductive target in the form of a body, which can be penetrated by measuring alternating magnetic fields, which are generated by an alternating magnetic field source, in particular one or more excitation coils, that the pump has one or more receiving coils and that the control device is designed toto measure the alternating currents and alternating voltages generated by the measuring alternating magnetic fields in one or more receiving coils and dependent on the interaction of the target with the receiving coils, to determine complex characteristics, in particular complex resistances, of one or more receiving coils from the respective alternating voltages and alternating currents, and to determine a position of the rotor from these, and wherein the control device is configured to generate periodic measuring alternating voltages in a number n of excitation coils, where n is greater than 1, which are offset from one another by a phase difference of 360 degrees / n and to measure the measuring alternating currents flowing in the receiving coils, and to determine complex characteristics, in particular complex resistances, of the drive coils from the respective measuring alternating voltages and measuring alternating currents, and to determine a position of the rotor from a combination of these characteristics.

[0012] A linking of the parameters can basically involve an addition of the parameters, whereby the parameters can also be weighted differently, for example.

[0013] Some or all of the drive coils can also serve as excitation coils to generate a magnetic field that interacts with the rotor's target. These can also serve, at least in part, as receiving coils. This has the advantage that the conditions for generating the magnetic field(s), including the geometry, are precisely known, and that the measuring AC voltages applied to the individual drive coils can be tailored to suit the application.If, for example, two or three drive coils are used and a periodic alternating voltage signal is fed into each of the drive coils, whereby the alternating voltage signals are phase-shifted by 360 degrees / 2 = 180 degrees in the case of two coils and by 360 degrees / 3 = 120 degrees in the case of three drive coils, the complex resistance values ​​determined with the measuring alternating voltages and the measuring alternating currents can be added in the complex number space for further evaluation, if appropriate with an appropriate weighting.

[0014] The drive coils do not have to be designed as a single coil, but can be divided into several coils connected in series or parallel. This is particularly common with pool pairs > 1.

[0015] Assuming that an external electrical or magnetic disturbance affects and influences all drive coils used for the measurement simultaneously and to the same extent, the respective influence of a disturbance pulse on the determined complex resistances for each coil is rotated by 360 degrees / n in the complex number space, so that the contributions of the disturbance pulses in the various coils used cancel each other out to zero when the complex resistance values ​​are added together. External disturbance pulses can thus be eliminated by the summation described above.

[0016] Noise compensation can also be applied to voltage or current measurements. To do this, the complex measured quantities are reversed by the phase shift of the excitation—for example, by 0 degrees, 120 degrees, and 240 degrees for n=3—and then added geometrically in the complex number space.

[0017] A further possible implementation of the pump can provide that the control device is set up to detect errors in the recording of measuring alternating voltages and currents and, in the event of improper functioning of the measurement or the determination of a complex characteristic, in particular a complex resistance in one of the excitation coils and / or the receiving coils, to change the number or the selection or the weighting of the excitation coils and / or the receiving coils that are used to measure a complex characteristic and are supplied with a measuring alternating voltage, and in particular to generate periodic measuring alternating voltages in a number m of excitation coils that are offset from one another by a phase difference of 360 degrees / m, where m is equal to n or not equal to n.

[0018] This solution allows for easy rectification of errors and damage to the measuring device without external intervention or repair, without losing the advantages of using multiple excitation and / or receiving coils for measurement purposes, and allows for very effective redundancy. If more than three drive coils are present, they can all be used as excitation coils, for example, and the measuring AC voltages can be appropriately offset from each other. If a coil or supply line fails, the number of coils used for the measurement can be reduced by one, and the phase offset of the remaining measuring AC voltages can be reset.

[0019] If not all drive coils are used for the measurement from the outset, failed coils can be replaced by other, previously unused coils, or their measurement contributions can be weighted less than the contributions of fully functional coils. In general, one, several, or all excitation coils can be identical to the receiving coils and / or the drive coils. One, several, or all receiving coils can also be identical to drive coils, regardless of whether the excitation coils are drive coils or separate coils or the generator of the measuring AC voltage fields.

[0020] As already indicated above, instead of omitting or replacing faulty receiving coils during evaluation, they can also be weighted less heavily or not at all during a combination, particularly when summing or averaging the coil values. Overall, the measured values ​​of the individual phases or receiving coils can thus be weighted differently during the combination.

[0021] For this purpose, it can also be provided that the control device is configured to monitor the excitation coils, for example drive coils in which measuring alternating voltages are generated, and / or the receiving coils, for the function of generating and measuring the measuring alternating voltage as well as the measurement of the measuring alternating current and the processing of these measured variables using a measurement control device. For this purpose, control signals can be regularly generated in the excitation coils and their magnetic effect can be checked in receiving coils, or the signals acquired during normal measuring operation can be checked for plausibility. The signals from the receiving coils can also be checked, for example, for the occurrence of unexpected signal shapes, in particular unexpected frequencies, which could indicate errors.

[0022] The error detection can be carried out, for example, in that the control device has an error detection device which continuously compares the measurement results of the individual drive coils with one another and, in the event of implausible deviations between the measurement results of one coil and the results of the other coil, for example from a determined average value of a complex resistance value or the rotor position, excludes the drive coil in question from further use in the position measurement or reduces its weighting in the calculation.

[0023] The pump can also be designed such that the target is formed as a body firmly connected to the rotor, in particular as a disk or as a ring, which rotates with the rotor about its axis of rotation and, viewed in the azimuthal direction with respect to the rotor axis, has one or more first regions with a first electrical conductivity and one or more second regions with a second electrical conductivity different from the first electrical conductivity, or that the rotor consists at least partially of an electrically conductive material and the target is formed by an electrically conductive part of the rotor.

[0024] Even in the case where the rotor is at least partially made of an electrically conductive material and the target is formed by an electrically conductive part of the rotor, it can be provided that the target, viewed in the azimuthal direction relative to the rotor axis, has one or more first regions with a first electrical conductivity and one or more second regions with a second electrical conductivity different from the first electrical conductivity. These different conductivity regions of the target in the azimuthal direction can be present in all target designs, for example, at specific radii or radius intervals, i.e., in annular regions surrounding the rotor axis.

[0025] For example, the rotor can rotate in the pump chamber and be mounted so that its front face is in front of a wall of the pump chamber. The rotor can then support the target on its front face.

[0026] If drive coils of the pump motor are arranged in the stator frame outside the wall of the pump chamber, the target influences the impedance of the drive coils, which can form the excitation and / or receiving coils or alternatively excitation / receiving coils. Thus, when a suitable magnetic excitation is generated, the target, together with one or more coils, forms an eddy current sensor. If alternating magnetic fields are generated, for example by one or more excitation coils, in the area of ​​the pump or in the pump itself, currents and / or voltages are generated by induction in the receiving coils, which can be evaluated as measuring currents and voltages at the excitation frequency. From these quantities, a complex resistance of a coil can be determined.This complex resistance depends on the interaction of the respective coil with the target. Determining the resistance thus makes it possible, for example, to determine the distance between the target and the respective coil and thus also the position of the rotor. In principle, all coils of the rotor and stator of the pump, including the magnetic bearing coils and the drive coils, can be used as excitation coils and also as receiving coils in all embodiments described in this text. Thus, the receiving coils can be entirely or partially identical to the excitation coils, and / or one or more drive coils can be used as receiving coils and / or as excitation coils.If the excitation and receiving coils are independent of the drive coils and are used only as sensors, then in many cases only the induced voltage or the current flowing through them is measured, and from this, for example, taking into account the phase shift of current and voltage, a distance to the target is determined. A concrete resistance determination is often not available with an external transmitter, i.e. when signals generated outside the drive coils or outside the motor are used for an inductance measurement. In the context of this text, the determination of a complex resistance of coils is mentioned in many places, although this should also include any other quantity that can be determined from the measured alternating current and the measured alternating voltage, especially complex ones, which depends on the distance of the respective coil from the target.

[0027] The special design of the target enables the determination of an axial or radial position of a rotor or a target mounted on it, either alternatively or simultaneously, and the determination of an angular position and also a rotational speed of the rotor by analyzing the periodic change in the measured variables at the rotational frequency of the rotor or a multiple of this frequency. The shape and structure of the target can be simple, and it can be easily attached to the rotor. Neither tilting the target relative to the rotational axis nor lateral adjustment with respect to the rotor is necessary, and when using a one-piece target, only a single body needs to be connected to the rotor.

[0028] Specifically, when designing the target, it may be provided that the second region(s) of the target have a different material thickness or material composition than the first regions or that the second regions of the target have one or more recesses.

[0029] The formulation that the target, viewed in the azimuthal direction relative to the rotor axis, has one or more first regions with a first electrical conductivity and one or more second regions with a second electrical conductivity different from the first electrical conductivity can, on the one hand, mean that the target has, in individual regions in the azimuthal direction, limited openings, recesses, or thinned-out areas that extend over a specific limited circumferential area or azimuthal angular range. Thus, in this context, the openings and recesses of the target are also referred to as regions of the target, insofar as they clearly belong to the overall shape of the target and, for example, lie within a recognizable overall contour or enveloping outer shape of the target.On the other hand, different target materials or material compositions can be used in such areas than in other areas. The areas with different conductivity can also alternate several times in the azimuthal direction of the target. In this case, the magnetic interactions of the target are modulated with a stationary receiving coil at a multiple of the rotational speed. If the target consists of different materials with different electrical conductivity and without recesses, imbalances can be avoided or reduced, especially if the materials have a similar density.

[0030] Using the described configuration, the position determination allows the rotor of an axial flux motor to be determined in the axial direction relative to its rotational axis, and thus, in many cases, to be controlled. In a radial flux motor, the rotor position can be determined in one or more radial directions using an annular target.

[0031] For example, in rotors that pump in the axial direction, an axial movement of the rotor can depend on the pump load and place a load on a thrust bearing. In a magnetically mounted rotor, the axial position can also be unstable, so that a specific axial position can only be maintained through closed-loop control. If, for example, the thrust bearing is an active magnetic bearing, it can also be controlled depending on the determined rotor position.

[0032] The described design of an eddy current sensor configuration, which also functions through the wall of a pump chamber, offers particular advantages, as does the use of one or more drive coils as excitation and / or receiving coils, whose losses, or their inductance damping, serve as a measure of the relative position of a rotor or a target arranged on it to the respective coil. In this way, no separate receiving coils are required for measurement, and connections and separate supply lines for these are also eliminated. The measurement and evaluation processes can be easily integrated into the control device, for example, control electronics and / or control software of the pump. A small, space-saving design, which can be achieved in this way, is particularly advantageous for implantable blood pumps.

[0033] In some cases, the control device also serves to control the drive coils and generate drive magnetic fields in an appropriate manner in order to achieve certain speeds of the pump or to generate magnetic bearing forces.

[0034] In a further implementation of the pump, it can be provided that the magnetic flux of the motor generated by the drive coils in the target runs predominantly in the axial direction of the motor (in this case it is an axial flux motor) and the target has the shape of a flat disk whose surface normal is oriented in the direction of one or more receiving coils, or that the magnetic flux of the motor generated by the drive coils in the target runs predominantly in the radial direction of the motor (in this case it is a radial flux motor) and the target has the shape of a ring running in the circumferential direction of the rotor and one or more receiving coils are arranged radially outside the rotor on its outer circumference.

[0035] In an axial flux motor, the target can be in the shape of a flat disk, with the surface normal of at least one of the disk's flat sides oriented parallel to the rotation axis. In many cases, a plane-parallel disk or plate is used as the target. However, such a disk-shaped target can also be tilted relative to the rotation axis. In such a case, the magnetic flux is modulated with the rotation frequency of the rotor, yet both the axial position and the angular position of the rotor can still be determined.

[0036] If the target is not tilted relative to the rotation axis, it rotates with the pump rotor at a uniform distance from the drive coils, which are usually arranged symmetrically around the rotation axis. This means that with an ideally rotationally symmetrical target, all receiving coils are constantly subject to the same influence of the target as the target rotates. This influence then essentially depends on a changing axial position of the target and thus of the rotor. The target can also be designed as a ring or band around the rotor, particularly when the drive coils of the motor are arranged radially around the rotor. With such an arrangement, rotor imbalance and axial runout of the rotor can be detected during operation. Such a circular or toroidal target will in many cases be arranged concentrically to the rotor.

[0037] In principle, and for all described embodiments, it can be provided that the target is not formed homogeneously with respect to the rotation axis, in particular having at least one non-centric recess extending in the circumferential direction around the rotation axis over a limited angular range. To achieve a similar effect, the target can also have at least one non-centric region in which the electrical conductivity is lower than in the remaining regions. This can be achieved, for example, by the material or material composition in the aforementioned non-centric regions differing from the material or material composition in the remaining regions of the target.For example, the target may be made of copper and have recesses, or the target may be circular disk-shaped overall and, in addition to areas made of copper, another metal, or an electrically conductive plastic or plastic filled with metal particles, may have further areas made of a plastic with low conductivity or another insulating material.

[0038] In this case, as discussed above, the influence of the target on each of the receiving coils used for distance measurements changes periodically with the rotation of the target / rotor relative to the receiving coils. When using such a non-homogeneous target, the measured damping of the inductances of the drive coils can be used to determine not only the axial position or radial position but also the rotational angular position of the rotor at any time.

[0039] In a further embodiment, the receiving coils can be arranged on the outside of the pump chamber wall, and the pump chamber wall can transmit more than 25% of the measuring alternating magnetic field, and the target can reflect or absorb more than 25% of the measuring alternating magnetic field. For example, the wall material can be titanium or a titanium alloy, and the target material can be copper or a copper alloy.

[0040] In an alternative approach, it can be provided that the receiving coils are arranged on the outside of the wall of the pump chamber, and that the wall of the pump chamber consists of a first material and the target predominantly of a second material, wherein the second material has a lower electrical resistance than the first material at the frequency of the measuring alternating voltage, and wherein, in particular, the first material is titanium or a titanium alloy and the second material is copper or a copper alloy. The second material then has a greater penetration depth of the measuring signal than the first material at the frequency of the measuring alternating voltage.

[0041] In principle, both the first material and the second material can be a metal or a non-metallic material with better or worse electrical conductivity. The influence on the damping or reduction in the inductance of the drive coils by the target, which is located on the rotor in the pump chamber, also acts through the material of the wall of the pump chamber if the materials and the frequency of the measuring AC voltage are selected appropriately. The prerequisite for this is that, at the frequency of the measuring AC voltage, the drive coils generate significantly stronger eddy currents in the material of the target than in the material of the wall of the pump chamber. For this purpose, if the wall of the pump chamber is made of a titanium alloy, as is often used in medical implants, the target can advantageously be made of copper or a copper alloy, for example.However, the pump wall can also be made of a non-electrically conductive plastic. The eddy currents generated in the pump chamber wall act as measurement errors when measuring the inductance changes of the coils and are thus kept as low as possible. The eddy currents in the wall shield the target from the measuring coil and thus generate both a resistance offset and a reduction in sensitivity. These eddy currents must therefore either be small or kept as constant as possible in all phases, i.e., in all receiving coils. Furthermore, the control device can be configured to generate periodic measuring alternating voltages with a frequency between 20 kHz and 2 MHz, in particular between 50 kHz and 100 kHz, in one or more of the drive coils.

[0042] This frequency range is particularly advantageous when the pump chamber wall is made of titanium or a titanium alloy and the target is made of copper, because in this frequency range the eddy currents generated in the copper are sufficiently large and the eddy currents generated in the titanium material are significantly smaller.

[0043] In addition to a pump of the type described above, the invention also relates to a method for operating a pump, in particular a blood pump, which has a rotor rotatably mounted and drivable in a pump chamber, as well as a target connected to the rotor and a plurality of drive coils arranged in a stator, wherein the method provides that two or more excitation coils generate measuring alternating magnetic fields which pass through the target and at least one receiving coil, and that a control device detects the measuring alternating currents and measuring alternating voltages generated by the measuring alternating magnetic fields and dependent on the interaction of the target with the receiving coils in one or more receiving coils, determines complex characteristics from the respective measuring alternating voltages and measuring alternating currents, in particular complex resistances of one or more receiving coils, and links these to determine the position of the rotor,wherein a number of n excitation coils are used, where n is at least two, wherein periodic measuring alternating voltages are generated in each of these by the control device, which are offset from one another by a phase difference of 360 degrees / n.,

[0044] The advantages of this method have already been explained above in the description of the pump according to the invention. In this method, the receiving coils can also be identical to the drive coils and / or to the receiving coils. Likewise, the receiving coils can be identical to the drive coils and not identical to the excitation coils. Furthermore, in one possible embodiment of the method, a number of n of the drive coils can be used as measuring excitation coils, where n is at least two. Periodic measuring alternating voltages can be generated in each of these by the control device, which are offset from one another by a phase difference of 360 degrees / n.The measuring alternating currents flowing in the drive coils can be measured, and complex resistances of one or more drive coils can be determined from the respective measuring alternating voltages and measuring alternating currents, and a position of the rotor can be determined from the complex resistances.

[0045] In such a method, it can further be provided that the complex parameters determined by means of the receiving coils, in particular complex resistance values, are linked to one another and at least one position of the rotor is determined from the link, wherein the link comprises in particular the determination of a weighted average value or the addition of the individually weighted complex parameters, in particular the complex resistance values, and wherein furthermore in particular measurement errors and measurement disturbances are detected, the determined measured values ​​of interference-affected receiving coils are underweighted or eliminated.

[0046] By summing or averaging the complex resistance values, universal interference (i.e., interference affecting all phases of the measurement) caused by the phase shift can be filtered out. Linking the rotor position values ​​determined in the individual drive coils can help reduce measurement errors.

[0047] It can further be provided that the target is designed as a body which is firmly connected to the rotor, in particular as a disk or as a ring, which rotates with the rotor about its axis of rotation and has, in the azimuthal direction with respect to the rotor axis, one or more first regions with a first electrical conductivity and one or more second regions with a second electrical conductivity which is different from the first electrical conductivity, and a rotational angle position of the rotor is determined from the fluctuations in the determined resistance and / or position values ​​which occur with the rotational frequency, or multiples of the rotational frequency, of the rotor.

[0048] When using a non-homogeneous target, for example a flat metal disc with one or more cutouts that extend over a limited rotation angle range, the position determination of the target / rotor in the axial direction still functions sufficiently in the remaining rotation angle ranges in which the drive coils are opposite the homogeneous and, for example, highly electrically conductive areas of the target. At the same time, the inhomogeneity of the target allows the determination of a rotation angle position of the rotor by modulating the interaction with the receiving coils according to the rotation frequency of the rotor.

[0049] From the impedance or distance measurements of the individual phases of the receiving coils, the linear rotor position, for example in the axial or radial direction of the rotor, can be determined, for example, from the maximum or minimum of the phase impedances (impedances of individual receiving coils). For this purpose, the recesses or areas of reduced conductivity in the target can be shaped such that the impedance of at least one phase / receiving coil is approximately constant over a specific rotation angle range, by ensuring that one or more receiving coils are each opposite a homogeneous area of ​​the target over a specific rotation angle range.

[0050] Alternatively, the target can be shaped so that the impedance curve of each phase is approximately sinusoidal. In this special case, all three phases can be used at any time for both the linear rotor position measurement and the rotational angular position measurement. The impedances or complex measured variables are added together with a phase shift, resulting in a geometric sum of a phasor / phase vector that rotates with the rotor rotation. The argument, i.e., the angle, of the phasor allows a direct conclusion to be drawn about the rotational position of the rotor. The magnitude of the phasor allows a direct conclusion to be drawn about the linear rotor position.

[0051] Furthermore, the method can also provide, in the event of a malfunction in the determination of a complex resistance in one of the excitation coils and / or the receiving coils, to change the number, selection, or weighting of the excitation coils and / or the receiving coils used to measure a complex resistance and to which a measuring alternating voltage is applied, and in particular to generate periodic measuring alternating voltages in a number m of excitation coils that are offset from one another by a phase difference of 360 degrees / m, where m is equal to or not equal to n. Thus, faulty excitation or receiving coils can be omitted from the measurement and / or additional excitation / receiving coils, if available, can be recruited as replacements.As already described above, faulty coils, or coils in general where the evaluation is problematic, can be omitted or given less weight than the non-faulty coils. For this purpose, the control unit can regularly check the measured values ​​of the individual coils for errors or plausibility.

[0052] In the following, the invention is shown using exemplary embodiments in figures of a drawing and described below.

[0053] This shows

[0054] Figure 1 shows schematically a blood pump in a longitudinal section with a rotor, a pump chamber and drive coils,

[0055] Figure 2 shows schematically a drive coil and its interaction with a target,

[0056] Figure 3 shows the representation of a universal disturbance in the representation space of complex resistances,

[0057] Figure 4 shows the frequency response of different materials with different penetration depths with respect to eddy currents,

[0058] Figure 5 shows a phase connection diagram of a pump motor when using 3 drive coils for the measurement,

[0059] Figure 6 shows a view of the drive coils and a non-homogeneous target in the axial direction with respect to the rotation axis, Figure 7 shows the curve of the determined resistance values ​​of 3 drive coils as a function of the rotation angle when using a rotating, non-homogeneous target,

[0060] Figures 8, 9 further views of drive coils and non-homogeneous targets in axial direction with respect to the rotation axis, as well as

[0061] Figure 10 shows the course of the electrical measured values ​​of three receiving coils for a target designed according to Figure 9 or similarly.

[0062] Figure 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of an implantable blood pump with a rotor 1 mounted within a pump chamber 2 for rotation about a rotation axis 3. Separated from the pump chamber 2 by a wall 4, drive coils 5, 6 are distributed outside the pump chamber around the rotation axis 3 as elements of a stator, which are controlled by a control device 7. The drive coils 5, 6 generate magnetic fields through which the rotational movement and, in the specific case shown, an axial movement of the rotor 1 are driven and / or controlled by means of the rotor magnets 8, 9.

[0063] The fluid to be pumped, in this specific case blood, is fed along the rotation axis 3 in the direction of arrows 13 and deflected in the radial direction in the direction of arrows 10, 11 by the rotational movement of the rotor with pumping elements 1a, 1b extending at least partially in the radial direction and the centrifugal forces generated therein. The blood then flows out through the opening 12 in the wall 4 of the pump chamber / pump housing. Figure 1 also shows magnetic bearings 14, 14' and 15, 15', which can be designed as radial bearings or as combined radial / axial bearings.

[0064] In addition to the drive currents, the control device 7 can also generate the measured alternating voltages and currents, which are used to determine the complex resistance values ​​of the drive coils. In this case, the drive coils 5, 6 form both the excitation coils and the receiving coils. A target 18 can be arranged as a disk on the rotor magnets 8, 9 between these and the drive coils 5, 6. Furthermore, the control device 7 can record and evaluate the measured alternating voltages and currents in the drive coils and determine a position of the target and the rotor in the axial direction of the rotor from the determined complex resistance values ​​or an alternative combination of the measured current and voltage curves, for example, taking into account the phase shifts between the current and voltage curves.In addition to an evaluation unit 7a, the control device 7 also has a measurement control device 7b for regular verification and / or plausibility checks of the measured values, which is configured to detect faulty coils. For this purpose, the measurement control device can have a microcontroller for data processing or a neural network trained to detect errors.

[0065] In another case, in which the drive coils are distributed around the circumference of the rotor, a target can also have the shape of a torus / circular ring and be mounted concentrically on the rotor. As an example, an annular target 18' circulating around the rotor is shown in Figure 1. In this case, the position of the rotor in the radial direction can be determined using the described measurement method.

[0066] Figure 2 schematically shows a rotor 1 of a pump, with a single drive coil 5 positioned opposite its end face. The wall 4 of the pump chamber 2 lies between the rotor 1 and the drive coil 5. The pump's rotational axis is also designated 3 here.

[0067] The drive coil 5 is supplied with a measuring alternating voltage 16 at the terminals 5a, 5b, which is superimposed on the drive current. The measuring alternating current is measured, for example, via terminal 17. In the evaluation unit 7a of the control device 7, a complex resistance value is determined from the measuring alternating voltage and the measuring alternating current for the frequency of the measuring alternating voltage. This resistance value depends, among other things, on the interaction of the drive coil 5 with the target 18, which is designed as a flat disc made of a copper material, attached to the rotor and rotating with it. In particular, the resistance value depends on the distance between the drive coil and the target. In the target 18, eddy currents are generated by the measuring magnetic field / magnetic excitation field, which influence the current and voltage curves at the measuring frequency and, linked to this, the complex resistance value of the drive coil.In the example shown, the pump chamber wall 4 is made of a titanium alloy in which only comparatively low eddy currents are generated in a suitably selected frequency range, so that the wall 4 is largely permeable to the alternating magnetic fields. The target can be made of copper, for example, so that, together with the pump chamber wall made of a titanium alloy, a good material pairing is created.

[0068] In another variant, a magnetic excitation field can also be generated by an element other than the drive coil(s), for example, by one or more coils arranged inside or on the pump and supplied with a measuring alternating voltage, such as a coil that can be controlled as part of an active magnetic bearing and acts as an excitation coil, or by another source that autonomously generates a magnetic alternating field. In this case, measuring alternating voltages and measuring alternating currents are measured in a suitable frequency range in one or more drive coils, which then serve, for example, as receiving coils. A complex resistance value or another combination of the measuring alternating current and the measuring alternating voltage, and a corresponding rotor position, is determined for the current frequency.Calibration tables or a calibrated digital conversion function can be used to assign rotor positions to the determined complex resistance values. Aspects of the determinable rotor position include, first of all, an axial position or a deviation from an axial reference position, but also, generally, a rotor position in the axial and radial directions.

[0069] With the device described, it is possible to determine the measuring alternating voltage and the measuring alternating current in several drive coils and, if the measuring alternating voltages are actively generated in the drive coils, to offset the individual measuring alternating voltages, which are typically generated as sinusoidal voltages, with respect to their phase position by 360 degrees / n when using n drive coils. Figure 3 shows an example of the situation when using n=3 drive coils and a global disturbance in complex space that affects all three coils. On the left-hand side of Figure 3, the pointer is shown three times for the disturbance in the individual drive coils; the phase position of the disturbances in the individual coils is rotated by 120 degrees relative to one another.

[0070] If the three determined complex resistance values ​​or measured values ​​of the three drive coils involved are added together, the diagram on the right side of Figure 3 shows that the disturbance is compensated to zero by adding the three phases. The rotor position can be reliably determined from the disturbance-compensated sum value.

[0071] In many pump designs, additional compensation can be achieved by dividing a drive coil into two or more windings that are distributed symmetrically around the circumference of the pump stator, so that many external disturbances are at least partially compensated by this symmetry.

[0072] Figure 4 shows the eddy current conditions as a function of the frequency of the alternating magnetic fields. Curve 19a denotes the penetration depth of the current in the titanium material TiAlIV, which occurs due to current displacement by the skin effect. Curve 19b represents the frequency-dependent transmission of an alternating field through the titanium material. Curve 19c shows the portion of the alternating magnetic field reflected by a copper target, and curve 19d represents the measured signal strength resulting from the interaction of the alternating field through a titanium wall with a copper target, which is the product of 19b and 19c.

[0073] This results in a good signal strength in the frequency range between 20 kHz and 2 MHz, especially between 50 kHz and 100 kHz or even between 50 kHz and 200 kHz.

[0074] Figure 5 shows a schematic phase connection diagram of a three-phase electric motor used to drive a pump. In addition to the drive currents, the measured AC voltage signal is fed into the drive coils 5, 6, and 21 via terminals 20a, 20b, and 20c. The measured AC current is detected at terminals 22a, 22b, and 22c. In a frequency mixer 23, another, relatively high-frequency AC voltage signal, for example, in the range of 50 kHz, is superimposed on the measured AC voltage signals. In a low-pass filter 24a, 24b, and 24c, a low-frequency signal is extracted from the mixed signal. This low-frequency signal corresponds to the curve of the measured AC currents, which vary only slightly over time.

[0075] From the signals of measuring alternating voltages and measuring alternating currents, the complex resistance values ​​at the frequency of the signals and subsequently the rotor position can be determined.

[0076] Mixer 23 and low-pass filters 24a, 24b, 24c can be combined for each phase into a single analog or digital filter. Digital filters, such as FIR or 11R filters, can exhibit particularly good filtering properties. Additional filter functions can also be integrated into the low-pass function to suppress known interference sources such as a PWM (pulse width modulation) frequency, motor drive currents, or bearing drive currents.

[0077] Figure 6 shows a schematic end view, i.e. viewed in a direction parallel to the rotor axis 3 of a pump motor, of three drive coils 5, 6, 21, wherein for each drive coil 5, 6, 21, two coil halves 5, 5a, 6, 6a are positioned opposite each other on the circumference of the stator. Figure 6 also shows a circular disk-shaped copper target 18, some of which is provided with cutouts / recesses 18a, 18b on its circumference. In the nomenclature of this text, these are referred to as areas of the target with reduced electrical conductivity. The term “target” is understood to mean the entire circular disk-shaped target, which is completed by the recesses 18a, 18b. The circular disk shape thus forms the overall contour or envelope of the target. The completed circular shape on the circumference of the copper target is partially shown in dashed lines to make the cutouts more visible.The two cutouts 18a, 18b form circular ring segments that are opposite each other around the circumference of the copper target. The influence of the copper target on the complex resistance measured in the drive coils at the frequency of the measuring AC voltage is strongly dependent on the angular position of the target and thus of the rotor due to the cutouts 18a, 18b.

[0078] Figure 7 shows how the measured resistance value 25, 26 of two drive coils depends on the rotation angle of the target / rotor. The rotation angle of the target is shown on the horizontal axis in the diagram in Figure 7, while the resistance of the drive coils is shown on the vertical axis, which occurs as a result of the eddy currents flowing in the target. This results in dips / reductions 25a in the resistance value, which occur for each individual drive coil at intervals of 180 degrees of the rotor rotation angle. For two different out of three phases, the dips are each spaced at a distance of 60 degrees of the rotor rotation angle. In the almost constant areas 25b - illustrated using the example of the resistance curve 25 - outside the dips, the resistance value measured there represents the actual axial position of the rotor.This allows the rotational angle position of the rotor to be easily determined from the recorded resistance value curve with a cut-out target, in addition to or alternatively to an axial position of the rotor.

[0079] The position determination of the rotor, which can be used, for example, to control an active magnetic axial bearing, can thus be achieved with the required accuracy and time resolution with a minimum of additional hardware effort.

[0080] Figure 8 shows another possible design of a target 118 with only a single recess 118a. This target can be attached to the front side of a rotor, similar to target 18.

[0081] The target shown in Figure 9 differs from the target shown in Figure 8 in the geometric design of the edge of the recess 118a. The edge 118b of the recess 118a according to Figure 9 is designed such that, when three front-end drive coils of the motor are used as excitation and receiving coils, a sinusoidal resistance value curve results for each coil with a constant rotor position in the axial direction. For this purpose, the edge 118b can be designed with a double convex curve. The sinusoidal curves 125, 126, 127 of the individual coils are shown in Figure 10.

Claims

Patent claims 1. A pump, in particular a blood pump, comprising a pump chamber (2) in which a rotor (1) rotatably mounted about a rotation axis (3) is arranged, having at least one conveying element (1a, 1b) for conveying a liquid, in particular blood, a wall (4) surrounding the pump chamber, a stator with a plurality of drive coils (5, 6, 21) for generating a drive magnetic field, which is designed to drive a rotational movement of the rotor, and a control device (7) designed to generate drive currents in the drive coils for the rotational drive of the rotor, wherein the rotor has an at least partially electrically conductive target (18, 18') in the form of a body, which can be penetrated by measuring alternating magnetic fields generated by an alternating magnetic field source, in particular one or more excitation coils (5, 6, 21), that the pump has one or more receiving coils, and that the control device is designed toto measure the alternating currents and alternating voltages generated by the measuring alternating magnetic fields in one or more receiving coils and dependent on the interaction of the target with the receiving coils, to determine complex characteristics, in particular complex resistances of one or more receiving coils, from the respective alternating voltages and alternating currents and to determine a position of the rotor (1) from these, characterized in that the control device (7) is designed to be in a number n of excitation coils (5, 6, 21), where n, is greater than 1, to generate periodic measuring alternating voltages which are offset from one another by a phase difference of 360 degrees / n and to measure the measuring alternating currents flowing in the receiving coils, and to determine complex characteristics, in particular complex resistances, of the drive coils from the respective measuring alternating voltages and measuring alternating currents and to determine a position of the rotor (1) from a combination of these characteristics.

2. Pump according to claim 1, characterized in that the control device (7) is set up to detect errors in the recording of measuring alternating voltages and currents and, in the event of improper functioning of the measurement or the determination of a complex characteristic, in particular a complex resistance in one of the excitation coils (5, 6, 21) and / or the receiving coils, to change the number or the selection or the weighting of the excitation coils and / or the receiving coils which are used to measure the complex characteristic and to which a measuring alternating voltage is applied, and in particular to generate periodic measuring alternating voltages in a number m of excitation coils which are offset from one another by a phase difference of 360 degrees / m, where m is equal to n or not equal to n.

3. Pump according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the target is designed as a body firmly connected to the rotor, in particular as a disk or as a ring, which rotates with the rotor about its axis of rotation and, viewed in the azimuthal direction with respect to the rotor axis, has one or more first regions with a first electrical conductivity and one or more second regions with a second electrical conductivity different from the first electrical conductivity, or that the rotor consists at least partially of an electrically conductive material and the target is formed by an electrically conductive part of the rotor.

4. Pump according to claim 3, characterized in that the second region(s) of the target (18, 18') have a different material thickness or material composition than the first regions or that the second regions of the target have one or more recesses.

5. Pump according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the magnetic flux of the motor generated by the drive coils (5, 6, 21) in the target runs predominantly in the axial direction (3) of the motor and the target (18) has the shape of a flat disc whose surface normal is oriented in the direction of one or more receiving coils or that the magnetic flux of the motor generated by the drive coils (5, 6, 21) in the target runs predominantly in the radial direction of the motor and the target has the shape of a ring running in the circumferential direction of the rotor and one or more receiving coils are arranged radially outside the rotor.

6. Pump according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the receiving coils (5, 6, 21) are arranged on the outside of the wall (4) of the pump chamber (2) and that the wall of the pump chamber transmits more than 25% of the measuring alternating magnetic field and the target reflects or absorbs more than 25% of the measuring alternating magnetic field and / or that the wall (4) of the pump chamber consists of a first material and the target (18, 18') predominantly of a second material, wherein the second material has a lower electrical resistance at the frequency of the measuring alternating voltage than the first material and wherein in particular the first material is titanium or a titanium alloy and / or the second material is copper or a copper alloy.

7. Pump according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the control device (7) is designed to generate periodic measuring alternating voltages with a frequency between 20 kHz and 2 MHz, in particular between 50 kHz and 100 kHz, in one or more of the excitation coils (5, 6, 21).

8. A method for operating a pump, in particular a blood pump, which has a rotor (1) rotatably mounted and drivable in a pump chamber (2), as well as a target (18, 18') connected to the rotor and a plurality of drive coils (5, 6, 21) arranged in a stator, characterized in that two or more excitation coils generate alternating measuring magnetic fields which pass through the target and at least one receiving coil, and in that a control device (7) detects the alternating measuring currents and alternating measuring voltages generated by the alternating measuring magnetic fields and dependent on the interaction of the target with the receiving coils in one or more receiving coils, determines complex characteristics, in particular complex resistances, of one or more receiving coils from the respective alternating measuring voltages and alternating measuring currents, and links these to one another to determine the position of the rotor, wherein a number of n excitation coils are used,where n is at least two, in which periodic measuring alternating voltages are generated by the control device, which are offset from each other by a phase difference of 360 degrees / n., 9. Method according to claim 8, characterized in that the complex parameters determined by means of the receiving coils, in particular resistance values, are linked to one another and at least one position of the rotor is determined from the link, wherein the link comprises in particular the determination of a weighted average value or the addition of the individually weighted complex measured parameters, in particular the complex resistance values, and wherein furthermore in particular measurement errors and measurement disturbances are detected and the determined measured values of interference-affected receiving coils are underweighted or eliminated.

10. Method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the target (18, 18') is designed as a body firmly connected to the rotor (1), in particular as a disc or as a ring, which rotates with the rotor about its rotational axis (3) and has in the azimuthal direction with respect to the rotor axis one or more first regions with a first electrical conductivity and one or more second regions with a second electrical conductivity different from the first electrical conductivity conductivity and a rotational angle position of the rotor is determined from the fluctuations of the determined resistance and / or position values occurring with the rotational frequency, or multiples of the rotational frequency, of the rotor (1).

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