Journal of Bioengineering & Biomedical Science

This work presents the design of a hydrodynamic performance bench (HPB) of Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs) for evaluations of developed prototypes. VADs are used for the treatment of patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), either as a bridge to recovery, for transplantation or as destination therapy. HPB is required for the performance evaluation of VADs that are under development in Brazil. The performance evaluation of a VAD takes into account the rotation speed [rpm], flow rate [l/min], pressure [mmHg] and power [W]. The project consists in choosing an actuator and transducers from HPB, and developing the mechanical components, supervisory control and modules. The HPB mechanical components were designed in SolidWorks^® (Dassault Systemes, Vélizy-Villacoublay, France) following rapid prototyping and built by additive manufacturing. The HPB supervisory program was developed in graphic language through the Labview^® program (2015, National Instruments, Austin, USA) and implemented in a development and application platform with data acquisition system (PXIe-8840, National Instruments, Austin, USA). The manipulated variable of the supervisory system is the motor speed [rpm] acting via an Escon 50/4 EC-S power controller (Maxon Motor, Sachseln, Switzerland) on the BLDC EC45 N339281 motor (Maxon Motor, Sachseln, Switzerland). The controlled variable is the “VAD flow” [l/min] provided by an HT-110 flow transducer. A particle image velocimetry (PIV) module was developed for flow analysis. All process data are stored in spreadsheets for later consultation. HPB was able to assist in a satisfactory way in the analysis of the developed VADs prototypes, demonstrating the technical success of the project.