Now, Clayton is using the very same technology he used to simulate air-intake in engines and optimise refuelling processes in racing pit stops to save lives – from fuel pumps to heart pumps.
As part of the Innovative Cardiovascular Engineering and Technology Laboratory, Clayton will use this computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation program to develop and optimise an efficient and cost effective blood pump to be used within a ventricular assist device (VAD) – or mechanical heart pump.
The use of CFD will allow Clayton to conduct the majority of his preliminary design work and testing faster and earlier on in the development process than traditional time and resource heavy methods such as repeated physical modelling and testing.
This is a technologically innovative approach to pump development; currently when designing this style of pump from scratch researchers must base their models from textbooks, the majority of which are still based on industrial-sized pumps. Therefore, when researchers try to use them for smaller blood pumps they do not scale down well. Those initial designs are generally fairly poor, requiring a significant rebuilding/redesigning and testing to reach the final stage.
Clayton’s is aiming to perfect the computer modelling system to create those initial models through the software, rather than build them, fine tuning as much as possible within the program-until they reach a point where they need to be built and physically tested. These physical models will be at a much more advanced and “final” stage than previous modelling allowed.
His project, with others, has the potential to make producing a range of heart pumps and other life-saving medical devices more efficient, more affordable and, in future, potentially more accurate.
National Volunteer Week 2023 Australia: Volunteers are instrumental in the impact The Common Good has, and this week we are acknowledging all that they do.
Stein Tronstad is an avid researcher, family man and traveler, dedicated to supporting ICU patients with his latest project, The ICU of the Future.
Daniel, 44, is a loving husband and father of four who was recently diagnosed with silicosis. Fortunately for Daniel, it was identified early during a routine medical check-up. The early diagnosis meant he was a candidate for a Whole Lung Lavage trial being carried out at The Prince Charles Hospital and supported by The Common Good.