US3783453A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Self-regulating artificial heart
Assignee: Individual
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Filing: 1971-12-23
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Granted: 1974-01-08
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Expires: 1991-12-23
Abstract
Abstract This invention describes a complete artificial heart system which is capable of providing complete self-regulative control of the pumping action of the heart. It comprises a right and left ventricular bladder connected to the blood system. These bladders are housed in right and left ventricular chambers, the space between the bladder and the chamber being filled with a drive fluid. Means are provided for sensing the volume of blood in the right and the left ventricular bladders. There is a power fluid system which comprises a sump maintained at atmospheric pressure, a pump, a flow control means and a switching means. The right and left sensors in the corresponding right and left ventricular chambers have outputs which are functions of the blood volume in the right and left ventricular bladders. A control means takes these sensor outputs and computes two control signals, one of which is a function of the difference between the volumes in the right and the left ventricular bladders, and the other is a function of the sum of the volumes in the right and the left ventricular bladders. The sum function goes to control the rate of flow of the power fluid and the difference function goes to control the switching. The switching means is provided so that when one bladder, for example the right ventricular bladder, becomes fully extended the left ventricular bladder becomes fully compressed, whereupon the drive fluid is switched into the right ventricular chamber to compress the bladder and push its contained blood out into the body system; at the same time, the power fluid that was filling the left chamber is released to flow back to the sump.
Inventors
- 👤 V Bolie
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 14:09
CPC Classifications
A; A61; A61M; A61M60/00; A61M60/40; A61M60/424; A61M60/427; A61M60/435; A61M60/10; A61M60/104; A61M60/117; A61M60/20; A61M60/205; A61M60/216; A61M60/50; A61M60/508; A61M60/538; A61M60/546; A61M60/80; A61M60/845; A61M60/851; A61M2205/00; A61M2205/33; A61M2205/3331; A61M2205/3334; A61M60/855; A61M60/89; A61M60/892; A61M60/894
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
131 words
In an artificial heart including a right ventricular bladder and a left ventricular bladder and means adapted to connect said bladders into the blood system of the body in which said heart is to be implanted and including a right ventricular chamber enclosing said right bladder and a left ventricular chamber enclosing said left bladder; the improvement comprising: a. right sensor means to measure a function of the volume V1 of blood in said right bladder, and left sensor means to measure a function of the volume V2 of blood in said left bladder; b. power fluid means; and c. control means responsive to a function of (V1 - V2) for switching the flow of power fluid into one of said chambers, and simultaneously out of the other of said chambers.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
131 words
In an artificial heart including a right ventricular bladder and a left ventricular bladder and means adapted to connect said bladders into the blood system of the body in which said heart is to be implanted and including a right ventricular chamber enclosing said right bladder and a left ventricular chamber enclosing said left bladder; the improvement comprising: a. right sensor means to measure a function of the volume V1 of blood in said right bladder, and left sensor means to measure a function of the volume V2 of blood in said left bladder; b. power fluid means; and c. control means responsive to a function of (V1 - V2) for switching the flow of power fluid into one of said chambers, and simultaneously out of the other of said chambers.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
27 words
The artificial heart as in claim 1 including: control means responsive to a function of (V1 + V2) to control the total flow of said power fluid.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
29 words
The artificial heart as in claim 1 in which said power fluid means includes sump means maintained at a pressure equal to the ambient atmospheric pressure, and pump means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
16 words
The artificial heart as in claim 3 in which said pump means is an impeller pump.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
16 words
The artificial heart as in claim 3 in which said pump is a positive displacement pump.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
35 words
The artificial heart as in claim 1 in which said right and left sensor means comprise displacement sensor means respectively respOnsive to a function of the instantaneous volumes of said right and left ventricular bladders.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
15 words
The artificial heart as in claim 6 in which said sensor means are mechanical means.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
26 words
The artificial heart as in claim 2 in which the control of the total flow of said power fluid is by means of a flow attenuator.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
25 words
The artificial heart as in claim 2 in which said total flow control is by means of a variable speed motor which drives said pump.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
37 words
The artificial heart as in claim 1 in which said ventricular bladder has only one moving wall, and said sensor means measures a function of the displacement of the bladder wall with respect to the chamber wall.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
38 words
The artificial heart as in claim 1 in which said ventricular bladders each comprise a flattened spheroid of revolution, and including means to ensure that both walls move symmetrically as blood flows into and out of said bladders.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
54 words
The artificial heart as in claim 3 in which said means for switching the flow of power fluid comprises a four-port valve means in which one port is connected to said pump means, one port to said sump means, one port to said right ventricular chamber and one port to said left ventricular chamber.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
194 words
In an artificial heart including a right ventricular bladder and a left ventricular bladder and means adapted to connect said bladders into the blood system of the body in which said heart is to be implanted, and including a right ventricular chamber enclosing said right bladder and a left ventricular chamber enclosing said left bladder, the improvement comprising: a. right mechanical sensor means to measure a function of the volume V1 of blood in said right bladder, and means to convert the indications of said right mechanical sensor to electrical signals, ER; b. left mechanical sensor means to measure a function of the volume V2 of blood in said left bladder, and means to convert the indications of said left mechanical sensor to electrical signals, EL; c. fluid power means including sump means and positive displacement pump means; d. variable speed motor means responsive to a function of ER + EL and means to couple said motor to said pump; and e. four-port valve means responsive to a function of ER - EL to control the flow of power fluid into one of said chambers, and simultaneously out of the other of said chambers.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
194 words
In an artificial heart including a right ventricular bladder and a left ventricular bladder and means adapted to connect said bladders into the blood system of the body in which said heart is to be implanted, and including a right ventricular chamber enclosing said right bladder and a left ventricular chamber enclosing said left bladder, the improvement comprising: a. right mechanical sensor means to measure a function of the volume V1 of blood in said right bladder, and means to convert the indications of said right mechanical sensor to electrical signals, ER; b. left mechanical sensor means to measure a function of the volume V2 of blood in said left bladder, and means to convert the indications of said left mechanical sensor to electrical signals, EL; c. fluid power means including sump means and positive displacement pump means; d. variable speed motor means responsive to a function of ER + EL and means to couple said motor to said pump; and e. four-port valve means responsive to a function of ER - EL to control the flow of power fluid into one of said chambers, and simultaneously out of the other of said chambers.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
53 words
The artificial heart as in claim 13 in which said four-port valve means comprises a two-position valve, which in a first position passes power fluid into a first chamber and out of a second chamber, and in a second position passes power fluid into the second chamber and out of the first chamber.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
181 words
In an artificial heart including a right ventricular bladder and a left ventricular bladder and means adapted to connect said bladders into the blood system of the body in which said heart is to be implanted, and including a right ventricular chamber enclosing said right bladder and a left ventricular chamber enclosing said left bladder, the improvement comprising: a. right mechanical sensor means to measure a function of the volume V1 of blood in said right bladder, and means to convert the indications of said right mechanical sensor to electrical signals, ER ; b. left mechanical sensor means to measure a function of the volume V2 of blood in said left bladder, and means to convert the indications of said left mechanical sensor to electrical signals, EL; c. fluid power means including sump means and constant flow pump means; d. four-port valve means to control the flow of power fluid into one of said chambers, and simultaneously out of the other of said chambers; and e. control means responsive to a function of ER and EL to control said valve means.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
181 words
In an artificial heart including a right ventricular bladder and a left ventricular bladder and means adapted to connect said bladders into the blood system of the body in which said heart is to be implanted, and including a right ventricular chamber enclosing said right bladder and a left ventricular chamber enclosing said left bladder, the improvement comprising: a. right mechanical sensor means to measure a function of the volume V1 of blood in said right bladder, and means to convert the indications of said right mechanical sensor to electrical signals, ER ; b. left mechanical sensor means to measure a function of the volume V2 of blood in said left bladder, and means to convert the indications of said left mechanical sensor to electrical signals, EL; c. fluid power means including sump means and constant flow pump means; d. four-port valve means to control the flow of power fluid into one of said chambers, and simultaneously out of the other of said chambers; and e. control means responsive to a function of ER and EL to control said valve means.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
229 words
An artificial ventricle adapted to fit the interior contour of the rib cage, said ventricle being comprised of a blood condUit and an encasement shell, said blood conduit being a pliable tube of axially varying cross-section of a size to extend around either the right or left lung from a point near the sternum to a point near the spine, the two ends of said blood conduit being valve-fitted cylindrical segments which extend in generally opposite directions from two smoothly flared transitions emerging from a pliable-flattened-discoid chamber whose axis of revolution is adapted to lie in the plane of the nearby rib arch, said encasement shell being of a rigid form which envelops the discoid-chamber and flared-transition portions of said blood conduit, said shell also fitted with a hollow stem which is aligned coaxially with said discoid-chamber axis and which is adapted to extend outwardly through a surgical opening between two adjacent ribs to couple subcutaneously with a suitable fluid-power source, the medial wall of said discoid bladder-chamber being adhesively affixed to the adjacent medial wall of said shell chamber, the lateral wall of said discoid bladder-chamber being movable and fitted with a central stiffening button to which is coupled a thin rod extending distally outward through said power-fluid stem to permit measurement of the instantaneous volume of said bladder chamber by means of a suitably attached linear-motion transducer.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
229 words
An artificial ventricle adapted to fit the interior contour of the rib cage, said ventricle being comprised of a blood condUit and an encasement shell, said blood conduit being a pliable tube of axially varying cross-section of a size to extend around either the right or left lung from a point near the sternum to a point near the spine, the two ends of said blood conduit being valve-fitted cylindrical segments which extend in generally opposite directions from two smoothly flared transitions emerging from a pliable-flattened-discoid chamber whose axis of revolution is adapted to lie in the plane of the nearby rib arch, said encasement shell being of a rigid form which envelops the discoid-chamber and flared-transition portions of said blood conduit, said shell also fitted with a hollow stem which is aligned coaxially with said discoid-chamber axis and which is adapted to extend outwardly through a surgical opening between two adjacent ribs to couple subcutaneously with a suitable fluid-power source, the medial wall of said discoid bladder-chamber being adhesively affixed to the adjacent medial wall of said shell chamber, the lateral wall of said discoid bladder-chamber being movable and fitted with a central stiffening button to which is coupled a thin rod extending distally outward through said power-fluid stem to permit measurement of the instantaneous volume of said bladder chamber by means of a suitably attached linear-motion transducer.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
215 words
A gas-operable volume-monitored artificial heart comprised of a pliable bladder, a bladder-centering framework, a symmetric caliper, and a rigid encasement shell, said bladder being comprised of a discoidally shaped chamber having two flat-disc walls from which a pair of valve-fitted inlet and outlet conduits of cylindrical cross section extend in parallel in the upward direction, said bladder chamber having several anchoring tabs attached around its semi-circular periphery, the two flat-disk walls of said bladder chamber each being fitted with a central stiffening button, said shell being generally contoured to envelop said bladder chamber and shaped so as to have a downward-extending power-fluid stem as well as a pair of upward-extending orifice-necks which fit around said bladder inlet and outlet conduits, said framework being attached both to said bladder anchoring tabs and to the interior of said enveloping shell so as to keep said bladder centered at all times within said shell, said caliper having its two arms pinned to eyelets attached to said bladder-wall stiffening buttons and having a mechanical structure which assures that said two bladder walls move in opposite directions by equal amounts, said caliper being coupled to a rotatable shaft aligned coaxially within said power-fluid stem, the rotation of said shaft being a measure of the instantaneous volume of said bladder chamber.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
215 words
A gas-operable volume-monitored artificial heart comprised of a pliable bladder, a bladder-centering framework, a symmetric caliper, and a rigid encasement shell, said bladder being comprised of a discoidally shaped chamber having two flat-disc walls from which a pair of valve-fitted inlet and outlet conduits of cylindrical cross section extend in parallel in the upward direction, said bladder chamber having several anchoring tabs attached around its semi-circular periphery, the two flat-disk walls of said bladder chamber each being fitted with a central stiffening button, said shell being generally contoured to envelop said bladder chamber and shaped so as to have a downward-extending power-fluid stem as well as a pair of upward-extending orifice-necks which fit around said bladder inlet and outlet conduits, said framework being attached both to said bladder anchoring tabs and to the interior of said enveloping shell so as to keep said bladder centered at all times within said shell, said caliper having its two arms pinned to eyelets attached to said bladder-wall stiffening buttons and having a mechanical structure which assures that said two bladder walls move in opposite directions by equal amounts, said caliper being coupled to a rotatable shaft aligned coaxially within said power-fluid stem, the rotation of said shaft being a measure of the instantaneous volume of said bladder chamber.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1977-01-07 | 1977-07-09 | 1978-01-08 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1981-01-07 | 1981-07-09 | 1982-01-08 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1985-01-07 | 1985-07-09 | 1986-01-08 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |