Catia shaves two years off heart transplant pump design

Cardianove in Canada says it has shaved two years off the normal development time in designing the world’s smallest life-saving heart pump (22mm in diameter), through the use of IBM’s and Dassault Systemes’ Catia CAD/CAM software. Catia was also used to run three-dimensional simulations to help ensure the miniature device succeeds in tests scheduled for early next year. If successful, cardiac surgeons will be able to insert the fingertip-sized pump inside human hearts to provide breathing relief and extend the life of patients waiting for transplants. The pump will be machined out of titanium with blades just 100 microns thick (a human hair is 50 microns) that turn at 10,000—12,000 rpm. It’s powered by a small external battery that sends a tiny electrical current directly through the skin without wires. Once inserted, the pump can help prolong life for patients with advanced congestive heart failure due to coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathy; or act as a temporary solution for people awaiting heart transplants. It will also help post-operative patients whose hearts need assistance. Cardianove says Catia’s speed, virtual simulation and precision were instrumental not only in shrinking timescales and ensuring that it will work, but also in ensuring that it can be manufactured to the necessary tolerances. The firm is aiming to have the pump ready for human application within four years, and its longer term goal is to develop a more permanent implant with a functional life of 10 years. The project was conceived at the Montreal Heart Institute, a cardiology research university hospital, in association with Canadian engineering university, the École Polytechnique de Montreal, and its mechanics professor and Catia instructor, Andre Garon. Garon, a co-founder of Cardianove, put together a team of a dozen engineers and graduate students to design and model an auxiliary pump for insertion into the left ventricle of damaged hearts. The development took just 36 months. Says Garon: “After we completed the computer model, we used Catia’s numerical control (NC) functions to quickly create a prototype, and used CFX fluid dynamic software to determine if we could cut the parts to spec and predict how they would behave in actual operation in the human body. Catia allowed us to use the latest in 3D modeling to explore over 100 virtual prototypes, and to machine the top three candidates.” For the design and solid modeling of the pump, Cardianove engineers used Catia v4 with fluid dynamics software running on five IBM RS/6000 unix workstations. Catia’s NC commands were essential in the production of the design, which required a very high degree of precision to enable the lab to machine the small parts out of titanium.