Implantable Blood Pump Tapered Diffuser Pressure Head
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing implantable blood pumps face challenges in achieving sufficient pressure head while minimizing shear stresses and maintaining compactness to facilitate implantation within the body, with prior designs often causing damage to blood components and having limited operational longevity.
Innovation Solution
An implantable blood pump design featuring a housing with a tapered diffuser region, allowing the pump to be positioned within the left ventricle without extending into the aortic valve, and incorporating a tapered diffuser with a truncated cone shape and conically shaped tips to reduce shear stresses and increase pressure head.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stress or pressure
If the pump is designed to generate sufficient pressure head, then pumping capacity is improved, but shear stresses on blood components increase causing damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the diffuser, specifically using a tapered diffuser angle between 5-15 degrees instead of traditional larger angles. This parameter optimization allows the diffuser to gradually convert kinetic energy to pressure energy, achieving sufficient pressure head while minimizing abrupt flow direction changes that would generate harmful shear stresses on blood components
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs curved and tapered surfaces in the diffuser design rather than sharp edges or abrupt transitions. The tapered diffuser features smooth curved surfaces that guide blood flow gradually, reducing turbulence and shear stress while maintaining effective pressure generation. The conically shaped tips further utilize curved geometry to minimize flow disruption
2Volume of moving object
If the pump size is reduced to facilitate implantation, then ease of implantation is improved, but pressure head generation capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the diffuser angle parameter to a specific range (5-15 degrees) that maximizes pressure generation efficiency within a compact volume. This precise parameter control allows the small pump to achieve sufficient pressure head by efficiently converting the kinetic energy from the impeller into pressure energy through the tapered diffuser geometry
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the radial dimension of the diffuser design, with vanes projecting radially outward from the impeller axis. This three-dimensional radial arrangement allows effective pressure generation within a compact axial footprint, enabling the pump to maintain small overall size while achieving sufficient pressure head through optimized spatial utilization
3Stress or pressure
If the diffuser extends into the aortic valve, then pressure head generation is improved, but device complexity and implantation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses conically shaped tips on the diffuser that extend partially toward the aortic valve opening but are designed to stop short of actually entering or interfering with the valve structure. This partial extension allows the diffuser to capture and convert kinetic energy effectively for pressure generation while avoiding the complexity of precise positioning required to prevent valve interference
Data Source
AI summary
A blood pump, such as an axial flow pump, having a pump housing, the pump housing defining a flow path and having a tapered portion adjacent to an outlet, tapering toward the outlet, an outflow cannula connected to the outlet of the pump housing, and an impeller and diffuser, disposed in the pump housing, the diffuser having a tapered body corresponding to the tapered portion of the pump housing, the diffuser body having at least one vane extending therefrom, the vein tapering in the same direction as the diffuser body. The present invention also includes a method of manufacturing the blood pump and a method of implanting the blood pump.