A STUDY OF OPTIMAL CONFIGURATION AND CONTROL OF A MULTICHAMBER BALLOON FOR INTRAAORTIC BALLOON PUMPING

Balloon configuration and control scheme are important for the optimiz ation of assistance of the failing heart with an intraaortic balloon p umping device. In this work, the configuration of a multi-chamber ball oon and control schemes have: been investigated by using a hemodynamic model and computer simulation methods. Following the simulation study , physical testing and animal experiments were performed to demonstrat e the simulation results. Results show that the optimal configuration and controlled multi-chamber balloon can provide better assistance to the failing heart. Based on the simulation and experimental results, i t was found that the shape of the rear chamber of a multi-chamber ball oon is critical. The optimal control scheme was to inflate the rear ch amber first and deflate it last.