Compensator for implanted blood pump

摘要

A compensator designed to be implanted within a living body and connected to an implanted reciprocating blood pump. A housing defines a gas-tight chamber which is separated into front and rear portions by a flexible membrane. A piston attached to the membrane guides the movement of the membrane, and a spring mechanism which links the piston and the housing is designed to maintain substantially constant pressure in the front chamber throughout the discharge and fill strokes of the reciprocating blood pump. Two pivoted, diametrically opposed, compression springs are compressed at rest at the end of the fill stroke and exert a force on the membrane which overcomes the differential pressure acting in the opposite direction when the membrane moves so as to expand the rear chamber volume.