DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A PROTOTYPE LINEAR ACTUATOR DRIVEN ARTIFICIAL HEART

H. A. Elghannay; M. T. Abujelala; A. S. Elbarsha

doi:10.66411/jer.v9i9.160

Authors

H. A. Elghannay Garyounis University, Faculty of Engineering, Benghazi, Libya Author
M. T. Abujelala Mechanical Engineering Department Author
A. S. Elbarsha Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.66411/jer.v9i9.160

Keywords:

Pulsatile artificial heart, Linear reluctance motor, Performance evaluation, Ventricular assist device

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a new prototype of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) with linear electromagnetic actuator. The proposed actuator consists of very few components and has a very simple structure. The proposed actuator can provide the back-and-forth motion required for the basic operation of a pulsatile artificial heart without any movement converter. The prototype pump components are fabricated either using ordinary machining techniques or taken from available resources. Static force produced by the actuator is measured using a load-cell and a simple mock circulatory loop is built to evaluate the steady state dynamic performance of the prototype pump. Accumulative operation hours were more than 72.0 hrs with more than 3.0 hrs of continuous operation. When a steady power of ~ 20 W was fed to the pump, at a pumping rate of 60 Pulse per minute, the pump output was ~1.14 litre /min against ~ 100 mm Hg. The functionality of the actuator is experimentally validated; however, the prototype pump could not clear the requirement of an artificial heart. Problems veloping the prototype resulted in its low performance and are discussed at the end of this paper

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