Structure design and mechanical performance test of a direct ventricular assist device pneumatic flexible actuator

The purpose of this research is to overcome the shortcomings of the current direct ventricular assist device in structure design, material selection and design a pneumatic flexible actuator that can be used to drive a fully flexible cup-shaped direct ventricular assist device according to the human heart shape. In this study, the structural parameters of the flexible actuator are initially determined based on the existing research, then the flexible actuator model is constructed with SOLIDWORKS, then the model is imported into ABAQUS for finite element simulation, lastly, the actuator structure is optimized according to the simulation results. The flexible actuator is made by molding, and its mold is made by 3D printing. Finally, the final structural plan is determined by testing the mechanical properties of the flexible actuator. The pneumatic flexible actuator designed in this research can be combined into the required direct ventricular assist device in a reasonable way, which will provide ideas for the design of a fully flexible direct ventricular assist device.