IMPLANTABLE ELECTRIC AXIAL-FLOW BLOOD PUMP WITH BLOOD-COOLED BEARING

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an implantable axial-flow blood pump using blood-immersed rotors with a nonthrombogenic suspension, and more particularly a pump configuration using a blood-cooled self-aligning ball-and-cup rotor support which does not use blood as a bearing fluid.SOLUTION: The axial-flow blood pump (10) has the rotor (20) suspended in ball-and-cup bearings (38, 42) which are blood-cooled but not blood-lubricated. A ball-and-cup structure is made of highly heat-conductive material and is in heat-transferring contact with heat-conductive stator blades (30) that serve as heat sinks for the bearings. The ball-and-cup structure is radially much smaller than the stator blades. The ball-to-cup interface has so small a gap that the ball-to-cup structure presents an essentially continuous surface to the blood flow.