Optimized FDA Blood Pump: A Case Study in System-Level Customized Ventricular Assist Device Designs

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Device Design
• Computational Fluid Dynamics

Background:

• Ventricular assist device (VAD) development traditionally relies on computational fluid dynamics (CFD), often involving lengthy trial-and-error processes.
• Existing CFD optimization methods for VADs are time-consuming and resource-intensive, necessitating more efficient approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and present a novel, efficient framework for VAD design and optimization.
• To overcome the limitations of traditional CFD-based trial-and-error optimization methods in VAD development.

Main Methods:

• Coupled a lumped parameter cardiovascular model with turbomachinery and blade path design packages for system-level optimization.
• Incorporated pump hydrodynamic losses and validated the framework against experimental data and CFD simulations.
• Enabled specification of physiology- and device-related objectives for broad parameter space optimization.

Main Results:

• Applied optimization to the FDA benchmark blood pump, achieving ~32% reduction in blade tip velocity and ~88% reduction in hemolysis.
• Generated an alternative design with 40% less blood-wetted area while maintaining baseline pressure and flow.
• Demonstrated significant improvements in pump performance and design efficiency.

Conclusions:

• The proposed framework enhances VAD development efficiency by shortening design cycles.
• Enables the creation of hydrodynamically optimized pumps suitable for diverse patient hemodynamics.
• Optimized VAD designs are provided as open-source resources for future research.