US Patent 9623161 Blood pump and method of suction detection

A system and method for detecting and mitigating a suction condition are disclosed. The method may include estimating a flow waveform of the pump, identifying pulses in the flow waveform, determining a negative flow based on a valid identification of a pulse, and evaluating a characteristic of the pulse for an existence of a suction condition. In various embodiments, a suction marker is located based on a minimum in a diastolic phase, and the suction marker location is used to identify a probability of a suction condition. A speed of the pump may be adjusted to mitigate the suction condition. A system and method for estimating flow is further disclosed. The method may include interpolating data sets defining pump power to flow for various pump speed values.