title: A flow visualization study of the NCVC centrifugal blood pump.
abstract: A compact centrifugal pump, NCVC-1, has an open-type impeller with 6 curved vanes, and it is characterized by no shaft and no seal. A tunnel is placed in the center of the impeller-rotor assembly to irrigate the back space behind the rotor. To evaluate the flow, we performed 3 visualization methods: tracer, oil film, and injection streak line method. The flow, observed by the tracer method in NCVC-1, indicated little turbulence along vanes. A volute chamber proved effective to reduce vortex formation in the outlet. Oil film pattern revealed no flow separation on vanes at 5 L/min. Washout flow behind the rotor is essential to prevent thrombus formation and was shown as inward spiral flow without any stagnation. These data suggested that a combination of visualization techniques was useful to analyze various flow conditions, and the NCVC-1 has excellent flow characteristics with little turbulence and little flow stagnation, which must be beneficial to low hemolysis and high antithrombogenicity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Artificial Organs, National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute, Osaka-Suita, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Taenaka
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masuzawa
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tatsumi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wakisaka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Watari
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakatani
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akagi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Anai
mesh_terms: D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D008961:Models, Structural; D012212:Rheology; D014741:Video Recording