Intravascular Blood Pump with External Motor and Expandable Housing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing intravascular blood pumps face limitations in reducing their crossing profile, optimizing blood flow, and minimizing thrombosis and hemolysis due to the presence of stationary inducers and diffusers, as well as challenges in expanding and collapsing mechanisms that are hindered by integrated motors and electrical leads.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates an expandable and collapsible impeller housing with a centrifugal-force-driven expansion mechanism, eliminating the need for flow inducers and diffusers, and features a stent-like frame that expands and collapses to reduce the outer diameter, allowing for a more efficient blood flow and reduced risk of thrombosis, while the impeller blades adjust their pitch with rotational speed to optimize blood flow rates and pressures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If an integrated motor is used to power the impeller, then the pump can be compact and self-contained, but the device complexity increases and the crossing profile cannot be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The motor is extracted from the pump body and placed externally. The pump now receives rotational power through a drive shaft that penetrates the vessel wall, allowing the intravascular portion to be compact and flexible while the motor remains outside the vessel, thus reducing the crossing profile while maintaining functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is divided into two separate components: an external motor unit and an intravascular pump unit. The motor drives a drive shaft that transmits power to the impeller through the vessel wall, allowing each component to be optimized independently - the pump can be made small and flexible for intravascular delivery while the motor can be larger and more powerful externally.
2Productivity
If stationary inducers and diffusers are included to optimize blood flow, then pumping efficiency improves, but the device complexity increases and thrombosis risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stationary inducer and diffuser components are completely removed from the pump design. Instead of using these traditional flow conditioning elements, the invention relies on the dynamic impeller blades alone to create and manage blood flow patterns, simplifying the device while maintaining pumping efficiency through active blade pitch control.
Solution Approach 2:
The impeller blades are designed with adjustable pitch angles that can be dynamically changed during operation. This dynamic adjustment allows the blades to optimize blood flow patterns and pumping efficiency for different flow conditions, replacing the need for stationary inducers and diffusers with an active, adaptable blade system.
3Strength
If the impeller housing is made rigid to maintain structural integrity, then strength is improved, but the crossing profile increases and delivery difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The impeller housing is designed as a collapsible structure that can change its configuration dynamically. During delivery, the housing collapses to a compact profile that can pass through small catheters and vessels. Once positioned, the housing expands to its full structural form to provide the necessary strength and housing for the impeller, thus achieving both small crossing profile and structural integrity at different stages.
Solution Approach 2:
The impeller housing is designed to nest within itself or within the delivery catheter in a collapsed state. The housing structure contains nested layers or segments that can be compressed together during delivery, similar to nested dolls, and then deployed outward to form the complete structural housing once positioned in the vessel.
4Device complexity
If the impeller blades are fixed pitch to simplify the mechanism, then device complexity is reduced, but blood flow optimization capability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The impeller blades are equipped with adjustable pitch mechanisms that allow the blade angle to be dynamically changed during operation. This enables optimization of blood flow rates and pressures for different physiological conditions and pump speeds, with the control system automatically adjusting blade pitch to maintain optimal hydraulic efficiency across varying operating conditions.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables a more efficient and safer intravascular blood pump with reduced thrombosis risk, improved blood flow optimization, and a lower crossing profile, facilitating easier delivery and operation with adjustable blade pitch for variable blood flow demands.
Implementation Method 1
centrifugal-force-driven expansion mechanism
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides an intravascular blood pump system with an external motor and comprising an impeller housing and/or impeller blade(s) that may be expandable and collapsible. The blade(s) and/or impeller housing may be biased to expand or may be expanded by centrifugal forces generated during rotation of the impeller and blades an operatively connected rotational external motor.