Development of Artificial Heart and Intra Aortic Balloon Pump Using Linear Pulse Motor

This paper deals with an Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump (IABP) and Artificial Heart (AH) using linear pulse motors (LPMs). The device characteristics may be summarized as follows. The maximum static thrusts of the LPM for the IABP and the LPM for the AH were 530 N and 107 N respectively. The kinetic thrusts of the LPMs for the IABP and for the AH were 350 N and 67 N respectively. The target thrust values were obtained in experiments. In mock tests, the expansion time of the balloon in the LPM-driven IABP was found to be 100 ms. In future, existing IABPs will be miniaturized by the adoption of LPMs. The instantaneous flow rate of the LPM-driven AH can be controlled by employing an acceleration drive pattern with the LPM. In mock circulatory tests, an LPM-driven AH delivered a flow rate of 5.3 L/min at a pulse rate of 100 beats/min, sufficient to sustain an adult's life. The temperature of the AH rose 11C during operation; suppression of increases in temperature is recognized as an important problem.