Tapered Housing Mechanical Circulatory Support Device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Extra-thoracically implanted mechanical circulatory support devices (MCSDs) often experience tissue erosion and inflammation due to mechanical action, leading to pocket enlargement and discomfort, especially when implanted near bones, requiring additional surgical procedures for correction.
Innovation Solution
A mechanical circulatory support device with a housing design that tapers in thickness from a medial to lateral position, distributing tissue stress and minimizing erosion, featuring a sloped first surface and a planar or curved second surface, with electrical coils and an axial flow rotor, and an outlet port transverse to the longitudinal axis, facilitating reduced tissue stress and improved implantation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a large MCSD is implanted extra-thoracically, then pumping capacity is improved, but tissue erosion and inflammation worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The housing features varying wall thickness with different structural characteristics at different locations: thicker medial portion for strength and thinner lateral portions for reduced tissue stress. This local variation in structural quality allows the device to provide high pumping capacity while minimizing tissue erosion at critical interface regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing wall thickness parameter is varied continuously from the medial to lateral positions, creating a gradient structure that transitions from load-bearing regions to tissue-contact regions. This parameter change optimizes both mechanical strength for pumping and biocompatibility for tissue interaction.
2Ease of manufacture
If the housing wall thickness is uniform, then manufacturing is simplified, but tissue stress distribution worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The housing employs non-uniform wall thickness with distinct medial and lateral regions having different thickness characteristics. This local differentiation in structural quality enables optimized stress distribution across tissue layers while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through conventional forming processes.
3Volume of stationary object
If the MCSD is implanted near bones, then pocket size is reduced, but mechanical action against tissues increases
Solution Approach 1:
The housing employs a thin-walled structure in lateral regions that can conform to the contours of underlying bony structures. This flexible shell design allows the device to adapt to reduced pocket spaces near bones while minimizing concentrated mechanical stress on surrounding tissues through distributed load bearing.
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 device allows for larger MCSDs to be implanted extra-thoracically with reduced tissue stress and discomfort, minimizing the need for additional surgical procedures by distributing force evenly across the tissue layers, thus enhancing patient comfort and reducing complications.
Implementation Method 1
The rotor has a permanent magnetization that interacts with the rotating field so that the rotating field impels the rotor in rotation about the axis
Implementation Method 2
An axial flow rotor mounted within the fluid flow path and configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis and to impel blood in a downstream direction along the flow path
Data Source
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AI summary
A mechanical circulatory support device. The mechanical circulatory support device includes an inner casing defining a fluid flow path, the fluid flow path defines a longitudinal axis. A rotor is mounted within the fluid flow path and configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis. A housing is included, the inner casing and the rotor being substantially disposed within the housing. The housing having a cross-sectional shape in a plane transverse to the longitudinal axis which decreases in thickness extending from a medial position to opposite lateral positions.