A servo-controlled roller pump for constant flow or constant pressure blood perfusion under normal pulsatile or non-pulsatile conditions.

This paper describes the design of a servo-controlled precision roller pump applicable for constant blood flow or constant blood pressure perfusion in research on the peripheral circulation. The pump, and its feed-back control, can simulate normal cardiac induced autoperfusion by reproducing the arterial pulse pressure configuration with high fidelity. Its design is such as to minimize damage of the red blood cells and consequent release of vasoactive substances, a problem encountered with most conventional pumps. The present pump principle may also find a use in heart-lung machines and dialysis equipment and can be used as a precision infusion pump.