Experimental study of hydrodynamic propulsion of a medical device with a spiral ribbed impeller

摘要

In order to minimize injury during a medical treatment using a low invasive sliding device, loss of cells and tissues due to wear against the device must be prevented by maintaining good lubrication condition. For this purpose, a new medicaldevice with a spiral ribbed impeller has been presented. This paper shows the potentials and problems of the proposed mechanism through experiments. The experimental result confirms that a device can be driven by thrust force keeping noncontactingcondition. In some cases, however. the measured thrust force was lower than the theoretical prediction. Cavitation was observed through the transparent impeller in a visualized experiment. It is suggested that a rupture of fluid film associated withcavitation may limits the thrust force and injure tissues. Viscous liquid should be supplied to suppress cavitation if the quantity of the existing mucus is not sufficient.