Design of biomimetic heart pump based on thermo-actuated liquid crystal elastomer
YANG Jianan1, CHEN Si1,2*, WANG Fangqun3, JING Teng1, QIAO Xiaoqi1
1. National Research Center of Pumps, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China; 2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA; 3. School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China
Abstract:In order to design a ventricular pump with better bionic heart function,the myocardium is replaced by thermo-deformable elastomer which is of flexibility and thermostriction. And a bionic heart ventricle pump is designed, according to the spiral ventricular myocardial band theory, the left ventricular segment of the myocardial band and the Hilbert plane filling curve are used. The experiment is designed to measure the ejection fraction and heart rate of the ventricular pump, and the results show that the stroke volume of the ventricular pump is higher than the natural heart, and its heart rate is much lower than the natural heart. Compared with the mechanical pump, the structure of the ventricular pump designed is more similar to the real heart, with stronger contraction ability, higher ejection fraction, and better biocompatibility. The disadvantage is that the thermally actuated liquid crystal elastomer responses to the deformation slowly and has not yet reached the normal heart rate. The possibility of constructing a bistable structure to improve the efficiency of the biomimetic ventricular pump is discussed. For other myocardial band segments with more complicated myocardial fiber orientation, the possibility of biaxial stretching mecha-nical engraving is discussed. This research can provide new ideas for the research and development of volumetric heart pumps, and also play a role in adjuvant therapy for heart diseases such as right heart failure.