Page 531 - Handbook of Biomechatronics

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Artificial Hearts

Graham Brooker
Australian Centre for Field Robotics, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Contents

1 Introduction 525
2 Historical Background 528
3 Heart Pumps and Motors 536
3.1 Pulsatile Pumps 537
3.2 Dynamic (Continuous Flow) Pumps 544
4 Bearings 554
4.1 Pivot Bearings 554
4.2 Hydrodynamic Bearings 555
4.3 Electromagnetic Bearings 556
5 Control and Power Transmission 557
5.1 Control 557
5.2 Power Transmission 560
6 Other Considerations 563
7 Future Directions 564
References 565
Further Reading 566

1 INTRODUCTION

The heart can be considered to be a pair of pumps folded together to
form a single unit as shown in Fig. 1. The right half of the heart pumps blood
only to the lungs in which deoxygenated blood enters the right atrium
through the superior and inferior vena cavae, and then out from the right
ventricle into the pulmonary arteries at low pressure (25mmHg). The left
half of the heart pumps blood to the rest of the body with oxygenated blood
entering the left atrium from the lungs through the pulmonary veins, and
then out from the left ventricle via the aorta at high pressure (120mmHg).
A series of valves ensure the flow remains in the correct direction with
the left and right atria receiving the incoming blood and pumping it into the
ventricles through the tricuspid and bicuspid (mitral) valves, respectively.
Following that, the two ventricles produce enough pressure to push the

Handbook of Biomechatronics © 2019 Elsevier Inc. 525
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-812539-7.00013-1 All rights reserved.