Lightweight and long lasting battery technology for Left Ventricular Assist Devices LVADs

PROJECT SUMMARY Heart failure is a leading cause of mortality throughout the worldThe only viable life sustaining option for patients with advanced heart failure is a heart transplantDue to the complex nature of the heart transplant procedure and the limited supply of donor heartsmost of these patients tend to use Left Ventricular Assist DevicesLVADseither to bridge the gap until they can undergo heart transplant or as the permanent lifetime optionWhen the patient leaves their homefunction of the LVAD totally and critically relies on the battery powerCurrently LVADs are powered by lithiumLiion batterieswhich are bulkyheavylband can power LVADs only forhoursIf the patient is more active or emotionally stressedbatteries will power the system for a much shorter period of timeFrequent replacing the depleted batteries with charged batteries becomes more challenging for elderly patients and patients with limited mobilityFurthermorethis could create an emergency situation if the patient with the LVAD is not in a position to recharge the batteriesExisting LVAD battery packs are heavy mainly due to the insufficient energy density of the Li ion batteriesThusto provide the needed energyseveral of these Li ion battery cells are incorporated in to the existing LVAD battery packs to power LVAD forhoursThis approach has significantly increased the total weight of the LVAD battery packsThe only option to decrease the weight of LVAD battery pack and increase the battery life on a single charge is to introduce a new type of battery chemistry that can provide high energy densityWe envision the development of a reliablelightweight battery pack for LVAD using the Li sulfur chemistry because of its significantly higher theoretical specific capacity and specific energy densitypotentially five times higher than that of commercialized Li ion batteriesIn this proposed studywe will develop Li sulfur batteriesE Light batterieswith significantly higher energy density than currently used Li ion batteriesThe result will be a battery pack with a remarkable impact on powering LVADsOur E Light batteries can increase the usage time of LVAD tohoursand it will also reduce the weight of the battery by aboutxIn this proposed studywe will extensively address technical hurdles associated with the current Li sulfur batteries that limit their application in medical devicesIn the Phase I studywe will introduce several key innovations to develop Lisulfur batteries that can deliver high energy density with long cycle lifeWe will also demonstrate the feasibility of the lab scale Lisulfur batteries to fabricate E Light batterieswhich will establish the potential of our E Light batteries to power LVADsOnce E Light battery is developedthese batteries could also power many other biomedical devices PROJECT NARRATIVE Left Ventricular Assist DevicesLVADserve as a viable life sustaining option to bridge the gap until a patient can undergo heart transplantmonths to yearsor for the patients who are not in a position for a heart transplant procedurelifetime useWhen the patient with LVAD leaves his her homethe function of the LVAD primarily and critically depends on the battery packswhich are heavylband bulky Li ion batteriesand can power the LVAD only forhours on a single chargeThe overall objective of this research effort is to develop a lightweightandgtx reduced weightand long lasting battery to power LVAD for up tohours so that the safety and the patientandapos s quality of life will be significantly improved