Miniature vibrating flow blood pump using a cross-slider mechanism for external shunt catheter.

The prototype of the miniature vibrating flow pump (VFP) is developed for the external shunt catheter. The cross-slider mechanism is applied to vibrate the tube, which causes the pumping effect. This mechanism results in successful development of the miniature and lightweight VFP. By the use of the prototype VFP, the experiment of the basic pump performance is made in detail based on the authorized procedure in the research field of fluids engineering. The typical H-Q curve of VFP, which is the relationship between the pump head and the flow rate, can be obtained. This result suggests that the miniature VFP developed here can be expected to be used as the booster pump for the external shunt catheter in clinical applications.