• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to evacuate the effects of the number of tied hollow fibers in a novel membrane oxygenator that satisfied the limiting factor of minimizing the friction loss in the intravascular blood flow Pattern. The membrane oxygenator is a bundle consisted of several hundred ho1low fibers haying the outside diameter of 380 $\mu m$ and the axial jacket length of 600 mm. The eight different variation of tied hollow fibers in a bundle were designed. and the liquid flow pattern was controlled by a pump. The liquid pressure drop was measured by in vitro experiments using water and g1ycero1. Uniform blood flow pattern was observed for each number of tied hollow fibers. Pressure drop was 13-16 mmHg outside of the membrane oxygenator consisting of up to 700 ho1low fibers. More effective contact of liquid with the tied ho1low fibers was observed as a decrease in the number of the tied hollow fibers. and resulted in the enhancement of the friction tractor