Stable blood lubricated hydrodynamic journal bearing with magnetic loading.

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation's Innovative Ventricular Assist System (IVAS) is distinguished by the use of a special hydrodynamic journal bearing to support the rotating assembly of the blood pump. In a permanently implanted blood pump, this bearing's characteristics of long life and high reliability are of paramount importance. In addition, this bearing's inherent self-pumping flow and the axial through flow caused by an imposed end-to-end pressure difference provides good washing, thus guarding against deposition. The basic computer analysis and preliminary testing results of this bearing were previously presented. This article reports the ongoing studies (both analytic and in vitro tests) on this innovative bearing as a component of the IVAS in general, with particular emphasis on its stable operating characteristics and reliability. The absence of vibration attributable to hydrodynamic instabilities related to the thick fluid film are both calculated and demonstrated during testing. A stable operating center of the rotor is shown to be inherent under magnetic side loads and resulting hydrodynamic bearing forces. A low shear as a result of large fluid-film thicknesses has been calculated, and low hemolysis has been shown by in vitro testing. Several unique design features of the bearing are believed to be responsible for this high level of performance.

The analysis, design, and testing of a blood lubricated hydrodynamic journal bearing.

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation's Innovative Ventricular Assist System (IVAS) uses a hydrodynamic journal bearing to support the rotating assembly of the blood pump. Bearing dimensions are chosen so that a stable film of lubricant develops and separates stationary and rotating pump surfaces during operation. This bearing type provides several advantages for a permanently implanted device, including essentially no wear for very long life and very high reliability, as well as a self pumping action that generates circumferential wash flow and thus lowers the risk of bearing associated deposition. However, these advantages are accompanied by design issues not encountered with typical journal bearing, such as low shear stress, bearing ends that are not at atmospheric pressure, and low radial bearing loads. To address these issues, several concepts for a hydrodynamic blood bearing were designed and analyzed using a special computer code to perform parametric studies. This design analysis code was developed to define optimum bearing performance under selected load and speed ranges and within practical tolerances. Results showed the range of dimensions and conditions over which an effective, reliable, blood lubricated journal bearing can be designed. Subsequent bench testing has validated the theoretical conclusions and shown this bearing type to be very robust in a blood pump application.

Selection and evaluation of blood- and tribologically compatible journal bearing materials.

A critical issue in the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) Innovative Ventricular Assist System (IVAS) blood pump is the selection of materials for the blood-lubricated journal bearing. Under normal operating conditions, the journal bearing geometry creates a thick blood film that separates the rotating and stationary surfaces. However, since start-up and certain transients could cause temporary contact, the material pair selected for these surfaces must be both tribologically and blood compatible. Combinations of two biocompatible alloys were tested: a titanium-zirconium-niobium alloy (Ti-13Zr-13Nb) and a zirconium-niobium alloy (Zr-2.5Nb). A standard pin-on-disk tester was used, with the contact surfaces lubricated by glycerol/saline mixtures simulating the viscosity range of blood. One test series evaluated start-up conditions; the other modeled a high-speed rub that might occur if the fluid film broke down. Results showed that the preoxidized Zr-2.5Nb pin/Ti-13Zr-13Nb disk combination was superior at all sliding velocities; a self-mated Zr-2.5Nb pair also showed promise. The oxide film on a self-mated Ti-13Zr-13Nb pair, and a Ti-13Zr-13Nb pin and Zr-2.5Nb disk combination did not show adequate wear life. More work remains to explain distinct performance differences of certain combinations, with more data needed on mechanical properties of thin, hard coatings on softer metal substrates.

Condition monitoring of rotary blood pumps.

Long-term, trouble-free operation of ventricular assist devices (VADs) is critical to the patient. A catastrophic failure of the VAD could cost the patient's life, thus defeating the purpose of the device. The targeted 90% 5 year reliability also implies that the average device life would exceed the 5 year limit. Time based explantation of the device after the fifth year will replace many devices with significant additional life, subject the patient to unnecessary surgical risk, and increase costs. To preclude the need for time based replacements and prevent catastrophic failures, a condition monitor is proposed in this article for early detection of faults in VADs. To develop this monitor, the effectiveness of various sensing and monitoring methods for determining the VAD condition is investigated. A Hemadyne pump was instrumented with a set of eight sensors, and a series of experiments were performed to record and analyze signals from the normal and abnormal pumps with five different faults. Statistical, spectral, envelope, and ensemble averaging analyses were performed to characterize changes in sensor signals due to faults. Experimental results indicate that statistical and frequency information from the acceleration and dynamic pressure signals can clearly detect and identify various VAD faults.