Evaluation of hydraulic radial forces on the impeller by the volute in a centrifugal rotary blood pump.

In many state-of-the-art rotary blood pumps for long-term ventricular assistance, the impeller is suspended within the casing by magnetic or hydrodynamic means. For the design of such suspension systems, profound knowledge of the acting forces on the impeller is crucial. Hydrodynamic bearings running at low clearance gaps can yield increased blood damage and magnetic bearings counteracting high forces consume excessive power. Most current rotary blood pump devices with contactless bearings are centrifugal pumps that incorporate a radial diffuser volute where hydraulic forces on the impeller develop. The yielding radial forces are highly dependent on impeller design, operating point and volute design. There are three basic types of volute design--singular, circular, and double volute. In this study, the hydraulic radial forces on the impeller created by the volute in an investigational centrifugal blood pump are evaluated and discussed with regard to the choice of contactless suspension systems. Each volute type was tested experimentally in a centrifugal pump test setup at various rotational speeds and flow rates. For the pump's design point at 5 L/min and 2500 rpm, the single volute had the lowest radial force (∼0 N), the circular volute yielded the highest force (∼2 N), and the double volute possessed a force of approx. 0.5 N. Results of radial force magnitude and direction were obtained and compared with a previously performed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study.