Prelimary measurements of gap velocity of a blood pump model

The paper presents the gap velocity measurements of a 5:1 enlarged blood pu mp model at operating condition. Both the radial and tangential velocity at the gap between the impeller and pump casing of a centrifugal blood pump a re presented. The results showed that the tangential and radial velocity in creased with the increase of radii. The vector plot of the resultant veloci ty showed that there was a good washout in the clearance gap. These have su ggested that hemolysis and thrombus formations are minimal and hence the pu mp is able to function nominally efficient as compared to other centrifugal pumps. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.