Pulmonary blood flow regulation with contactless energy transmission system

Some congenital cardiopathies require "Fontan" pulmonary circulation. In this paper, a special device to increase the flow and pressure in pulmonary arteries is presented. The system is formed by a DC motor plus a helix (generating a radial flow) and a stator, which converts the radial flow into a longitudinal one. The main innovation of this device is the transmission between the motor and the helix. This is the critical point, since it is necessary to isolate the motor (in order to prevent short-circuits) and it is also necessary to implement the transmission to the helix. In other words, the problem is to implement an axial pump that is going to operate submerged in blood. In this case, magnetic coupling is used and motor isolation is fully achieved. The equipment is completed with a contactless energy transmission system, based on the well known SRC topology.