Centrifugal Blood Pump

Impeller Test & Design

Ryan Klatte
CCF Advisor - Dr. William Smith
Univ. of Akron Advisor -
Dr. Stan Rittgers

Cleveland Clinic Foundation

National Science Foundation
 Background:
„ Statistics:
– According to the National Center for Health
Statistics, in 1996, 21 million Americans were
afflicted with heart disease.
– In 1997, 726,974 Americans were killed by heart
disease, making it the number one cause of death
in the U.S.
 (Background continued)

„ Although many treatments are available for

heart disease victims, many require heart
transplants to survive, let alone function
normally.
„ Drawbacks of heart transplants:
– Difficulty of finding donor organs.
– Possibility of rejection.
 (Background continued)

„ Solutions:
– Implant an artificial heart
– Genetic engineering??
„ Efforts are wide spread to develop a
Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) or a Total
Artificial Heart (TAH).
 (Background continued)

„ Cleveland Clinic Foundation:

– Here at Lerner Institute, the Cardiac Assist and Replacement
Group (CARG) is attempting to develop a Left VAD (LVAD) in
accord with the Whitaker Foundation Grant.
– The device used will be a centrifugal pump.
 (Background continued)

„ Centrifugal Pump characteristics:

– Continuous flow, non-pulsatile.
– Simple device:
„ Housing

„ Impeller (sole moving part)

„ Motor

– Relatively simple design.

 (Background continued)

„ Unfortunately, little information is available about the

effect of impeller geometry on overall pump
performance.
„ Most centrifugal pumps are designed by trial-and-
error methods.
„ It would be highly beneficial to have a tool that could
accurately predict pump performance for a given
design.
 Theory

„ Dimensionless
– Specific Speed:
parameters used: n Q
N s = 3/ 4
– Pressure Coefficient: H
∆p – Reynold’s Number:
Ψ=
4 ρπ 2 n 2 r 2
2πr 2 nρ
– Flow Coefficient: Re =
µ
Q
Φ = – Power Coefficient:
2π r 3 n
P
Π=
8π 3 r 5 ρn 3
 (Theory continued):

„ Euler Equation:
u2 cu 2 − u1cu1
H th =
g

„ Velocity triangles:
 Specific Aims:
„ Pump Mapping: This involves recording the necessary
data for each respective impeller/housing
configuration. There are 17 configurations currently
tested. More will be done as time permits.
„ Modify Program: The empirical data recorded will be
used to modify an existing program to accurately
predict pump performance based upon impeller
geometry, fluid properties, and rotational speed (to
be done at UA).
„ Impeller Design: The design program could be used
to design improved impellers (to be done at UA)
 (Specific aims continued)

„ Implications of this research:

– The data recorded will be useful for future
research.
– New impellers can be designed faster and
cheaper.
– Blood pumps could be easily modified to meet an
individual patient’s needs.
 Update:
„ Before I could begin actual testing, I had to perform
several tasks:
– Design a dynamometer that would accommodate the new
torque sensor.
 Update (continued)

– Build the actual test loop. The old test loop leaked.
 Update (continued)

– Redesign the adapter and spacer parts that attached the

pump housing to the magnetic coupling.
 Update (continued)

– Initial testing revealed that the housings intended for testing

were poor. Because of this, I designed a new housing.
 Update (continued)

– Final incarnation of dynamometer & pump

 Testing:
„ The respective impeller/housing configurations will be
run in a test loop.
„ The control fluid is a water/glycerin mixture with
viscosity equivalent to blood viscosity.
„ The control fluid will be held at constant
temperature.
„ The control fluid will be sterilized.
 (Testing continued):

„ Data acquisition „ Data Collected:

devices: – Inlet/Outlet Pressure
– Pressure taps – Input Torque
– Torque transducer – Flow-rate
– Flow-meter – Rotational Speed
– Motor controller
drive
 (Testing continued):

„ Each impeller/housing configuration will be

tested at 3 different gaps, with 3 rotational
speeds per gap, and 15 different flowrates
per rotational speed.
„ This is a total of 135 data points per
configuration.
 Analysis:
„ The data will be organized into several different
plots, using dimensionless parameters.
„ Dimensionless parameters are useful because:
– Easy to compare different configurations.
– Allow several variables in a single plot.
– Provide a method to compare similarity of
different pumps.
 (Analysis continued):
„ Example: Efficiency vs. Specific Speed

Efficiency vs. Specific Speed

0.5

0.45

0.4

0.35

0.3 2000 RPM

2500 RPM
η [-]

0.25 3000 RPM

3500 RPM
0.2 4000 RPM

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Ns [-]
 (Analysis continued):
„ Example: Power Coefficient vs. Flow Coefficient
Nondimensional Power vs. Nondimensional Flow

0.16000

0.14000

0.12000

0.10000
2000 RPM
2500 RPM
Π [-]

0.08000 3000 RPM

3500 RPM
4000 RPM
0.06000

0.04000

0.02000

0.00000
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14
Φ [-]
 (Analysis continued):
„ Example: Pressure Coefficient vs. Flow Coefficient
Nondimensional Pressure vs. Nondimensional Flow

0.7

0.6

0.5

2000 RPM
0.4
2500 RPM
Ψ [-]

3000 RPM
3500 RPM
0.3
4000 RPM

0.2

0.1

0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14
Φ [-]
Questions?