title: Linear hydraulic pressure-pulse actuator (LHPA): a versatile instrument that produces a simulated blood pressure pulse wave for small sized vessels.
abstract: An instrument is presented which produces a simulated circulatory pulsatile pressure wave for small sized vessels. The linear hydraulic pressure-pulse actuator (LHPA) is designed to be extremely versatile, that is, a blood pressure wave source of any shape, amplitude, offset and frequency can be simulated. In addition, the LHPA can reproduce accurately a real pulse pressure wave by simply imputting an actual data record of a circulatory pressure pulse. The design is accomplished by incorporating the use of a linear force solenoid driven with a voltage-to-current source power amplifier. Testing of the device is presented here, as well as pressure pulse results from a recorded pulsatile pressure input to the LHPA. The device is simple to implement in that its response is linear, for volume changes upto +/- 5 mL, without the need for feedback compensation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway; NJ 08855-0909, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Field
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Drzewiecki
mesh_terms: D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D011673:Pulsatile Flow / Q000502:physiology