Design Of The Permanent Magnet Bearing Of The Maglev Artificial Heart

We have developed a magnetically suspended centrifugal blood pump that consists of combined active and passive magnetic bearings to be used as a durable ventricular assist device. The Maglev centrifugal pump designed in this work consists of an active magnetic bearing, a permanent magnet bearing (PM bearing), a levitated impeller, and a motor stator. Two types of PM bearings were designed based on a numerical simulation performed prior to construction. Both of these PM bearings were capable of restricting the radial movement of the levitated impeller without deterioration of the axial position control performance. The maximum rotation speed for both types of pumps was 2000 rpm with pumping. The maximum amplitude in the axial direction was only 0.05 mm. The Maglev centrifugal pump designed here displayed sufficient magnetic suspension ability and pump performance to be used as a ventricular assist device.