Flow through an improved ball valve for the heart assist device

Objective of the present study is the hemodynamic investigation of the fluidmechanics a ball valve developed for ventricular assist devices with improved parameters. The flow was investigated using Digital Particle Image Velocimetry with an enlarged model of the valve (2.8:1). The flow was recorded using a high speed video camera with 250 fps and analyzed by a cross-correlation method implemented in the software DaVis by LaVision. The results confirmed the improvement of the ball valve performed by a numerical study. The flow separations on the ball valve housing observed in the first design version was eliminated in the final design of the novel valve. Hence a valve of this design applied in ventricular assist devices can be expected to have a lower rate of thromboembolic complications.