Abstract
To improve efficiency of heat exchanger in membrane oxygenator, we have investigated the possibility of common usage of hollow fiber for gas exchange with heat exchanger. With using hollow fiber instead of stainless or plastic pipe, we can easily increase the effective surface area of heat exchanger significantly. The efficiency of heat exchange of the hollow fiber used in blood outside perfusion system (Senko Medical Instruments Manufacturing HP-1, effective surface area; 2.08m2) was 0.96 with a flow rate of 4L/min and 0.88 with a flow rate of 6L/min. The pressure drop inside of the hollow fiber was 357mmHg with a flow rate of 4L/min 614mmHg with a flow rate of 6L/min. We believe that we can decrease this relatively high pressure drop with decreasing the length of the hollow fiber, and adjusting the necessary surface area and flow rate of the water for heat exchange. In addition to excellent efficiency, we may be able to eliminate the heat exchanger and decrease the priming volume of the membrane oxygenator with common usage of single hollow fiber for both oxygenation and heat exchange, .
