TOTAL ARTIFICIAL-HEART USING NEURAL AND FUZZY CONTROLLER

The aortic pressure (AoP) and pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) are impo rtant factors for the longterm survival of the patient receiving an im plant of a total artificial heart (TAH). A new afterload regulation me thod using neural controllers has been developed for a moving actuator type TAH. Without any transducer, the proposed neural controller, bas ed on the predetermined peak level of the motor current, regulates AoP by adjusting the actuator velocity. At the same time, a fuzzy control ler based on expert knowledge prevents the PAP from being abnormally h igh. The proposed controller not only regulates the pump output on the maintenance of the normal AoP and PAP, but it also successfully contr ols the suction in the right heart. In vitro tests show that the propo sed neural and fuzzy controllers effectively regulate AoP and PAP as w ell as prevent atrial suction.