Heart Support Device Segmentation Reduces Construction Height
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heart support devices for pulsatile blood delivery have a high construction height, making them difficult to implant, and are prone to mechanical stresses and infection risks due to power supply cables, with inefficient energy consumption and heat generation.
Innovation Solution
A heart support device design featuring a pump outside two ventricles with fluid chambers, allowing for reduced construction height and implantation flexibility, using a hydraulic fluid to convey blood without the need for a volume compensating reservoir, with a flexible partition wall and elastic membrane for gentle blood discharge and optimized flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the pump is arranged between the two hydraulic chambers, then the pumping function is achieved, but the construction height increases making implantation difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into separate functional modules: the ventricle unit with blood-conveying chambers and the pump unit with fluid chambers are positioned separately and connected via fluid conduits. This segmentation allows the pump to be located outside the ventricles, reducing the construction height of the implanted portion while maintaining the pumping function through hydraulic connection.
Solution Approach 2:
Fluid conduits serve as intermediaries connecting the pump to the fluid chambers in the ventricles. This allows the pump to be positioned remotely from the blood-conveying chambers, enabling a compact implant configuration where the high-height pump component can be placed in the subcutaneous space away from the heart while still transmitting hydraulic pressure to drive blood flow.
2Power
If power supply cables are used to operate the pump, then the pump can be driven, but infection risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces electrical actuation with a purely mechanical/hydraulic actuation system. The pump is driven by direct mechanical coupling to the fluid chambers through magnetic coupling or direct mechanical connection, eliminating the need for transcutaneous electrical cables and their associated infection risks. The hydraulic system transmits force mechanically through fluid pressure rather than electrical signals.
3Length of stationary object
If the pump is placed outside the ventricles, then construction height is reduced, but connection complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fluid chambers are positioned within or adjacent to the ventricle structure, with the pump nested in the subcutaneous space. The fluid conduits are routed through the device housing or along the exterior surface, creating a compact nested arrangement that minimizes connection complexity while maintaining the space-separated configuration for reduced construction height.
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
The design minimizes implanted component volumes, enhances implantability, reduces mechanical stress, and improves blood flow efficiency while maintaining pulsatile blood delivery, allowing for a more compact and efficient heart support system.
Implementation Method 1
a fluid chamber (14a, 16a) and a blood-conveying chamber (14b, 16b), wherein the fluid chamber (14a, 16a) can, with the aid of the pump (18), be filled with a fluid or be evacuated in a manner causing an expansion or contraction of the fluid chamber (14a, 16a). Expansion of a fluid chamber of a ventricle will result in compression of the blood-conveying chamber of the same ventricle.
Implementation Method 2
The fluid chamber (14a, 16a) and the blood-conveying chamber (14b, 16b) are separated from one another by a membrane (36).
Implementation Method 3
said pump (18) is arranged outside said first and second fluid chambers (14a, 16a) and/or outside said first and second ventricles (14, 16). the pump (18) can be connected to the fluid chambers via a fluid conduit of corresponding length.
Data Source
AI summary
A heart support device for pulsatile delivery of blood comprising a first and a second ventricle and a pump. Both ventricles comprises a fluid chamber and a blood-conveying chamber, wherein each fluid chamber can be filled with a fluid or emptied by way of the pump in such a way that an expansion or contraction of the fluid chamber occurs. In an expansion of the fluid chamber of a ventricle, a compression of the blood-conveying chamber of the same ventricle takes place, wherein a rigid pressure plate is disposed between a fluid chamber and the respective blood-conveying chamber, said pressure plate being able to move in the direction of the respective blood-conveying chamber.