A Physiological Control Method Based on SMC and GAPSO for Artificial Heart Pumps to Maintain Pulsatility and Avoid Regurgitation and Suction

Purpose Artificial heart pumps are widely used for medical auxiliary blood supply, but the existing technology has some defects. To solve the problems of traditional artificial heart pumps, such as weak pulsation, easy suction and reflux, this paper proposes a new control method. Methods First, we designed a sliding mode controller for aortic pressure and formulated the feedback adjustment mechanism: two mutually converted reference values of aortic pressure were introduced to make the aortic pressure jump between the two extreme values, thereby improving blood pulsatility. Second, the target value of the average aortic pressure was set according to the actual situation of patients with heart failure. Based on the target value, a sliding mode controller (SMC) was designed to stabilize the average aortic pressure near the target value. For the second and third steps, a genetic algorithm particle swarm optimization (GAPSO) was introduced to optimize the parameters of the sliding mode controller. Finally, a prevention mechanism for regurgitation and suction was proposed to avoid possible regurgitation and suction phenomena. Results When the artificial heart pumps is assisted by the new control, the aortic pressure difference can reach 31 mmHg. Additionally, suction and reflux do not appear in new control method. Conclusion The results show that this method can improve blood pulsatility in addition to satisfying the blood perfusion required by the human body. It can also prevent reflux and suction, which promotes the functional recovery of a damaged heart.