Blood pump

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10780208-B2
Application number	US-201615750001-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2016
Priority date	Aug 4, 2015
Publication date	Sep 22, 2020
Grant date	Sep 22, 2020

Abstract

A blood pump comprises a pump casing having a blood flow inlet and a blood flow outlet, and an impeller arranged in said pump casing and rotatably supported in the pump casing by a bearing so as to be rotatable about an axis of rotation. The impeller has blades for conveying blood from the blood flow inlet to the blood flow outlet. The bearing comprises at least one stationary bearing portion coupled to the pump casing and having a stationary bearing surface that faces radially outwards. The bearing further comprises a rotating bearing surface interacting with the stationary bearing surface to form the bearing, wherein the rotating bearing surface faces radially inwards and is formed on an exposed radially inner edge of the blades. The blades are designed to draw blood deposit on the stationary bearing surface in a radially outward direction.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A blood pump, comprising:
a pump casing having a blood flow inlet and a blood flow outlet,
an impeller arranged in said pump casing and rotatably supported in the pump casing by at least one bearing so as to be rotatable about an axis of rotation, the impeller having at least one blade for conveying blood from the blood flow inlet to the blood flow outlet,
wherein the at least one bearing comprises at least one stationary bearing portion coupled to the pump casing by means of a supporting structure that comprises at least one aperture to allow blood to pass therethrough in an axial direction and having a stationary bearing surface that faces radially outwards, the at least one bearing further comprising a rotating bearing surface interacting with the stationary bearing surface to form the at least one bearing, and
wherein the rotating bearing surface faces radially inwards and is formed on an exposed radially inner edge of at least one of the at least one blade thereby, in operation, drawing a blood deposit from the stationary bearing surface in a radially outward direction.

2. The blood pump of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one stationary bearing portion comprises at least one pin or cone extending along the axis of rotation, the at least one stationary bearing portion being substantially cylindrical or tapered in shape.

3. The blood pump of claim 2 , wherein the at least one stationary bearing portion has a central axial passage extending therethrough.

4. The blood pump of claim 1 , comprising two bearings, each having a stationary bearing portion, the stationary bearing portions axially extending into the impeller at opposing axial ends of the impeller.

5. The blood pump of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one blade is arranged on at least one of an outer surface of a hub of the impeller and an inner surface of the hub of the impeller, and
wherein, when the at least one blade is arranged on the outer surface of the hub of the impeller, the at least one blade axially extends beyond the hub of the impeller.

6. The blood pump of claim 1 ,
wherein the impeller has a blood flow passage extending through a hub of the impeller, wherein the impeller comprises at least one outer blade disposed on an outer surface of the hub and sized and shaped for conveying blood from the blood flow inlet to the blood flow outlet, and at least one inner blade disposed in the blood flow passage and sized and shaped for conveying blood through the blood flow passage, and
wherein the rotating bearing surface is formed on an exposed radially inner edge of at least one of the at least one inner blade and the at least one outer blade.

7. The blood pump claim 6 , wherein the at least one blade is arranged on the impeller such that the blade is divided by the hub of the impeller into an inner portion forming the at least one inner blade and an outer portion forming the at least one outer blade.

8. The blood pump of claim 6 , wherein the at least one stationary bearing portion extends completely through the blood flow passage.

9. The blood pump of claim 6 ,
wherein the blood flow passage of the impeller extends at least partially along the axis of rotation, and
wherein the at least one stationary bearing portion extends along at least half of a length of the blood flow passage of the impeller.

10. The blood pump of claim 9 , wherein the impeller has at least one radial opening to connect the blood flow passage with an environment of the impeller.

11. The blood pump of claim 1 , wherein the pump casing has a secondary blood flow inlet axially spaced from the blood flow inlet and the blood flow outlet in a main direction of flow,
wherein the impeller comprises at least two blades, at least one of which is associated with the blood flow inlet in order to convey blood from the blood flow inlet to the blood flow outlet in a main direction of flow, and at least another one of which is associated with the secondary blood flow inlet to convey blood from the secondary blood flow inlet to the blood flow outlet in a direction opposite the main direction of flow, and
wherein the at least two blades are arranged at axially opposing portions of the impeller adjacent an intermediate portion.

12. The blood pump of claim 11 , wherein the at least one blade associated with the secondary blood flow inlet is sized and shaped to convey blood along the intermediate portion of the impeller.

13. The blood pump of claim 1 ,
wherein a bearing structure of the at least one bearing comprises at least one of at least one ring surrounding at least a portion of the at least one stationary bearing portion and at least one wing engaging at least a portion of the at least one stationary bearing portion.

14. The blood pump of claim 1 , comprising an electric motor for driving the impeller,
wherein a stator of the electric motor is coupled to the pump casing and circumferentially arranged about the impeller, and
wherein the stator of the electric motor comprises at least one electrical arrangement for creating a rotating magnetic field and the impeller comprises at least one permanent magnet.

15. The blood pump of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one stationary bearing portion and the impeller each comprise at least one magnet, the magnet in the stationary bearing portion and the magnet in the impeller being radially aligned and arranged in the stationary bearing portion and the impeller, respectively, such that an axial repulsive magnetic force is caused between the stationary bearing portion and the impeller.

16. The blood pump of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the stationary bearing surface and the rotating bearing surface comprises a material having a greater hardness than a material of the rest of the at least one stationary bearing portion and the impeller, respectively.

17. The blood pump of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the at least one ring and the at least one wing defines an additional bearing surface, the additional bearing surface sized and shaped to engage an axial end of the at least one stationary bearing portion.

18. The blood pump of claim 1 , wherein the supporting structure is sized and shaped to direct a blood flow in a radial direction.

19. The blood pump of claim 1 , wherein the impeller comprises at least one secondary blade disposed on an axial end surface of the impeller.

20. The blood pump of claim 19 , wherein the at least one secondary blade is provided on a downstream end surface of the impeller in a gap.

21. The blood pump of claim 19 , wherein the at least one secondary blade forms part of a hydrodynamic bearing.

22. A blood pump, comprising:
a pump casing having a blood flow inlet and a blood flow outlet,
an impeller arranged in said pump casing and rotatably supported in the pump casing by at least one bearing so as to be rotatable about an axis of rotation, the impeller having at least one blade for conveying blood from the blood flow inlet to the blood flow outlet,
wherein the at least one bearing comprises at least one stationary bearing portion coupled to the pump casing and having a stationary bearing surface that faces radially outwards, the at least one bearing further comprising a rotating bearing surface interacting with the stationary bearing surface to form the at least one bearing, and
wherein the rotating bearing surface faces radially inwards and is formed on a bearing structure coupled to an exposed radially inner edge of the blade.

Assignees

• Abiomed Europe Gmbh

Inventors

• Siess Thorsten
• Aboulhosn Walid
• Kerkhoffs Wolfgang
• Keysselitz Ellen
• Skrodsky Peter

Classifications

• A61M60/419 Primary

  the force acting on the blood contacting member being permanent magnetic, e.g. from a rotating magnetic coupling between driving and driven magnets · CPC title

• A61M60/804

  Impellers · CPC title

• A61M60/13 Primary

  by means of a catheter allowing explantation, e.g. catheter pumps temporarily introduced via the vascular system · CPC title

• A61M60/857

  Implantable blood tubes · CPC title

• A61M60/422

  the force acting on the blood contacting member being electromagnetic, e.g. using canned motor pumps · CPC title