Blood Cell Separation Device Using Serially Connected Membrane Filters for Adapting to Blood Flow Properties

Abstract

This paper proposes a cooperative operation of serially connected membrane filters toward adaptive blood cell separation system in order to overcome a restriction of a single membrane filter. Serially connected membrane filters allow that downstream filters extract blood plasma from residual blood at upstream filters. Consequently, it becomes possible to adapt filtering characteristics to changing properties of blood. We focus on trans-membrane pressure difference in order to prevent hemolysis. Our strategy can be realized as a miniaturized PDMS fluidic chip. Our laboratory experiment using a prototype shows that plasma extraction efficiency is improved from 34% to 75%. Toward an integrated system, this paper also demonstrates multiple filters are successfully integrated into a PDMS fluidic chip.