(Chemical Engineering)
(Chemical Engineering)
B.S. (1996, Waseda), M.Engr. (1998, Waseda), Ph.D. (2000, Waseda), Res.Assoc. (2000. Waseda), Assist. Prof. (2001. Waseda)
keywords
Room 65-107
3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Tel: +81-3-5286-3242
Fax: 81-3-3209-7957
E-mail:kohori@waseda.jp
Research Interests
Medico-chemical engineering which is the interdisciplinary region of chemical engineering and medicine is main project of Kohori laboratory. Our research is based on the transport phenomena and mass balance, applying for medical instruments and medical treatment. All the research is studied from the viewpoint of chemical engineering.
Simulation for medical instruments
Fluid flow condition in artificial organs is analyzed by the computational method. It aims at the optimization of the medical equipments for patient. We focus the artificial lung and the artificial kidney, respectively. The artificial lung is a medical instrument used as a part of pump-oxygenator equipment in cardiac surgery, and is used as a gas exchange equipment for oxygenation and carbon dioxide elimination.
An artificial kidney is a material-separator used in the treatment which artificially removes waste product from the blood of patient with renal failure. In the artificial organs which substitutes for human's biofunctions, the mass transport and the material elimination are occurred through a straw state hollow fiber membrane with complexed liquid and gas flow. Therefore, the fluid behavior is greatly concerned in the performance of the artificial organs.
The experimental data is obtained in trial and error method, therefore, it takes long time and high cost for the analysis of the flow condition. Then, the organ which is deformed in the analyzable form is devised. It is able to carry out the convenient simulation by the parameter processing with the personal computer. Efficient development of artificial organs is supported by the simulation method.
By the recent parameter processing speed of personal computers we can improve the simulation method with the various situations. We aim at phenomenon analysis and performance prediction by the simulation analysis. Furthermore, we try to put the proposal of high-performance artificial organ with the completely new shape using simulation procedure.
Artificial gill
An artificial gill is a device for the uptake of oxygen from water to air. It enables humans to breathe in water. The artificial gill expands people' activity field toward under sea water for scuba diving, sea investigation, sea factory and seabed development. We apply hemoglobin solution as oxygen carrier. The oxygen affinity of oxygen carrier solution is varied with temperature, and the partial pressure in the closed spaces is maintained to provide sufficient oxygen partial pressure for human respiration. The oxygen uptake rate from water to oxygen carrier solution significantly decreased with decreasing oxygen partial pressure. The oxygen release rate was higher than the oxygen uptake rate. These results indicate that the rate-determining step is present in an oxygen uptake device. Optimum operating conditions are determined from oxygen uptake rate and oxygen release rate. The required membrane surface area and water flow rate are dependent on the oxygen partial pressure of sea water and the artificial gill needs sufficient membrane surface area for decreased oxygen partial pressure in waster
Representative Publications
1. "Designing an Artificial Gill Using Oxygen Carrier Solution for Effective Supply of Oxygen to Underwater Closed Spaces", Journal of Research in Science and Engineering, 1, 31-36 (2003).
2. "Optimum Dialysis Membrane for Endotoxin Blocking", Journal of Membrane Science, 219, 15-25 (2003)
3. "Development of A Compact Artificial Gill using Concentrated Hemoglobin Solution as the Oxygen Carrier", Journal of Membrane Science, 215, 281-292 (2003)
4. "Visualization of Distribution of Endotoxin Trapped in an Endotoxin-blocking Filtration Membrane", Journal of Membrane Science, 210, 45-53 (2002)
5. "Technical Evaluation of Dialysate Flow in a Hollow-fiber Dialyzer", Journal of Artificial Organs, 5, 251-256 (2002)
6. "AFM Observation of Small Surface Pores of Hollow-fiber Dialysis Membrane Using Highly Sharpened Probe", Journal of Membrane Science, 197, 243-249 (2002)
7. "Process Design for Efficient and Controlled Drug Incorporation into Polymeric Micelle Carrier System", Journal of Controlled Release, 78, 155-163 (2002)
8. "Computer-aided Design of Hollow-fiber Dialyzers", Journal of Artificial Organs, 4, 326-330 (2001)
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