Design and Analysis of a Bearingless Permanent-Magnet Motor for Axial Blood Pump Applications

Because of their high power density and compact size, permanent-magnet (PM) motors have been commonly used to drive rotary blood pumps (RBPs), which are focused on the treatment of end-stage heart failure or as the bridge to a heart transplant. In this paper, a bearingless PM motor has been proposed for axial blood pump applications. The finite-element method (FEM) is used to predict the electromagnetic characteristics of the designed motor with improved performance. Two topologies are investigated, namely the integral-slot and distributed-windings method and the fractional-slot and double-layer concentrated windings method. Both motors are analyzed and optimized. FEM reveals that, compared with the integral-slot motor, the fractional-slot motor offers significantly enhanced performance, including reduced cogging torque, improved back electromotive force (back EMF), and decreased magnetic flux leakage. Finally, hydraulic experiments have been conducted in a mock-circulation loop to validate the feasibility of the designed motor for an axial blood pump. The results show that the fractional-slot bearingless PM motor can drive the RBP to produce physiological blood flow with reasonable efficiency.