On the Design, Modeling, and Control of a Hybrid Pump System for Dynamic Pressurization of Explanted Mammalian Hearts

Abstract

A hybrid electromechanical pump system is proposed to mimic left ventricular blood pressure in a living mammalian heart. The system consists of a gear pump and voice coil actuated diaphragm (VCAD) pump connected in parallel. By combining a high-capacity, low-bandwidth gear pump with a low-capacity, high-bandwidth VCAD pump, the advantages of both can be realized, resulting in an economical high-bandwidth pumping system that may be used with animal hearts of arbitrary size. Mathematical models are developed to describe the system dynamics and develop a digital controller. Experimental results are also presented.