Effect of pump characteristic (H-Q) curves on the efficiency of Total Artificial Heart

Abstract

Nowadays, heart failure of human being is a very common occurrence all over the world. Total Artificial Heart (TAH) is an outstanding achievement of biomedical engineering where the patient's natural heart is removed and replaced with two mechanical pumps that provide perfusion to the systemic and pulmonary circulations. This paper focuses on the effect of pump characteristic (H-Q) curves on the efficiency of TAH. To show the effect of pump parameters, a simplified model of human cardiovascular system (CVS) is developed with an electrical circuit. A numerical simulation is conducted in order to find out the different physiological pressures and pump flows in response to change of parameters related to pump performance curves. Finally, the effect of H-Q curves on the efficiency of TAH is analyzed.