Magnetically suspended motor system applied to artificial hearts and blood pumps

Magnetic levitation technology, for magnetic bearings and magnetically suspended motors, is a cutting edge technology to produce artificial hearts and higher performance blood pumps. A wider blood gap and the elimination of the contacting parts in the device based on the maglev technology provide better blood compatibility and higher durability of the device. Several maglev pumps developed at Ibaraki University are introduced in this article. Maglev pumps have been designed for different medical requirements and for different magnetic suspension systems. All pumps have sufficient suspension and pump performance as blood pumps. The axial suspension system with a double biased hybrid magnetic bearing is explained in detail as one example of maglev blood pumps.