Elliptical artificial heart

Claim 1

An artificial heart device for producing heart pumping action as part of a total artificial heart implant, said device comprising a semi-rigid housing of substantially ellipsoidal configuration, having elliptical cross sections at both its long and short axes and enclosing a pumping volume of sufficient capacity to sustain adequate blood flow within a living being during use, said housing having an interior surface and upper and base portions and being substantially symmetrical about its short axis; deformable diaphragm structure attached at its perimeter to said interior housing surface approximately at the largest perimeter of the pumping volume and symmetrically about the short axis to form a deformable partition dividing the pumping volume into a blood chamber and a drive chamber, said diaphragm structure having an hemi-ellipsoidal configuration when fully extended at the end of either systole or diastole; inlet and outlet means coupled through the housing in communication with the blood chamber for attachment in line with the circulatory system of the living being and in a flow configuration comparable to one of the two ventricles of a natural heart; and means for actuating alternating extension and collapse of the diaphragm structure with respect to the drive chamber in a recurring pumping manner to alternately expel and infuse blood from and to the blood chamber in a manner comparable to the pumping action of a natural heart.