A novel bearingless interior permanent magnet slice motor driven blood pump

A 2-pole bearingless interior permanent magnet (IPM) motor with slice rotor configuration is presented in this paper. A novel IPM rotor is designed considering direct and indirect operational specifications such as force constant, torque constant, axial/radial stiffness and cogging torque. Cogging torque and its resulting vibrations affect motor and levitation operation significantly. Hence, various rotor configurations are simulated using the finite element method to develop a topology that minimizes these phenomena. The final topology is tested for closed-loop levitation and speed control. The motor is also tested for its intended application as a blood pump. A mock circulatory loop is developed to measure the performance of the pump. The simulation results, experimental control system performance and pump performance results are shown and explained in the paper.