Axial type self-bearing motor for axial flow blood pump.

An axial self-bearing motor is proposed which can drive an axial blood pump without physical contact. It is a functional combination of the bi-directional disc motor and the axial active magnetic bearing, where it actively controls single degree-of-freedom motion, while other motions such as lateral vibration are passively stable. For application to a blood pump, the proposed self-bearing motor has the advantages of simple structure and small size. Through the finite element method (FEM) analysis and the experimental test, its good feasibility is verified. Finally, the axial flow pump is fabricated using the developed magnetically suspended motor. The pump test is carried out and the results are discussed in detail.