Mitsubishi Rayon Company, Limited

Eiichi Hamada

Jun Kamo

Atushi Nakashima

Tohru Takemura

Haruhiko Yoshida

Toshio Yoshihara

The present invention provides a heat exchanger using hollow fibers formed of an organic polymer as the heat transfer tubes; a blood oxygenating device comprising a blood oxygenator combined with the aforesaid heat exchanger; and a small-sized and lightweight blood oxygenator which comprises a blood oxygenator of the hollow-fiber membrane type having the aforesaid heat exchanger incorporated thereinto to form an integral unit, and hence has excellent gas exchange and heat exchange performance.

Heat exchanger and blood oxygenating device furnished therewith

A blood oxygenator comprising a housing generally in the form of a box and bundles of hollow fibers of semipermeable membrane set therein for effecting gas exchange therethrough. In this blood oxygenator, each end of each bundle of hollow fibers of semipermeable membrane is secured together by potting material in such a way as to allow their open ends to communicate separately with a gas inlet and a gas outlet; the space around the bundles of hollow fibers of semipermeable membrane communicates with a blood inlet and a blood outlet; the blood-gas contact chamber within the housing is divided into a plurality of compartments with the interposition of blood flow channels narrowed by baffles; and the bundle of hollow fibers of semipermeable membrane is disposed in the contact chamber so as to be substantially parallel to the baffles. This blood oxygenator has high oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange rates per unit area of membrane, causes little channeling of the blood and gas, exhibits only a small pressure loss in the flow of blood, and is easy to manufacture.

Blood oxygenator using a hollow fiber membrane

A blood oxygenator of the outside perfusion type using hollow fibers as the gas exchange membrane. In this blood oxygenator, a plurality of contact chambers each containing a bundle or bundles of hollow fibers for gas exchange use and communicating with a blood inlet and a blood outlet are disposed to make blood flow in multiple paths within a housing, and each bundle of hollow fibers is arranged so as to be substantially perpendicular to the direction of blood flow. In spite of its compact construction, this blood oxygenator has high oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange rates per unit of membrane even when used in the gas exchange of blood having high flow rate, exhibits only a small pressure loss, and causes little channeling of the blood and gas. Moreover, it is easy to manufacture because of its relatively simple structure.

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Otake, Japan

Eiichi Hamada