Development of Extracorporeal Maglev Blood Pumps

In centrifugal blood pumps, contactless support of the impeller and a sufficient fluid gap in the pump head have been identified as features that have the potential to keep blood damage to a minimum and enhance the durability of the blood pump. We have developed three types of cost-effective magnetic bearings and contactless torque transmission mechanisms for disposable centrifugal blood pumps which can be used for extracorporeal circulation. In this paper, we introduce prototype maglev centrifugal blood pumps that utilize these mechanisms and we present both the experimental results and the results of simulations carried out on them.