BROWSE
Detail
Journal Article
A Novel Hand-held Viscometer Applicable for Point-of-care
Cited 14 time in 
Share 
Share
- Authors
- Wan-Joong Kim, Sanghee Kim, Chul Huh, Bong Kyu Kim, Young Jun Kim
- Issue Date
- 2016-10
- Citation
- Sensors and Actuators B : Chemical, v.234, pp.239-246
- ISSN
- 0925-4005
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Language
- English
- Type
- Journal Article
- Abstract
- A novel hand-held viscometer was developed, which may be applied for measuring blood viscosity in point-of-care (POC) environment. Measurement process can be completed automatically in a single step within a few minutes using only 40 μL of a sample fluid. In spite of the importance of measuring blood viscosity, practical and widespread use of a viscometer as a medical device has been deterred mainly due to limitations of requiring large amount of blood sample and multiple steps for measuring process. Single-step automatic process with small sample volume was made possible by installing a metal sphere (0.8 mm in diameter) inside a capillary tube (1.05 mm in diameter) using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a "bio-glue". Falling time of the metal sphere through a sample fluid in the capillary tube was measured by reading travel distance of 30 mm by the sphere. Qualitative and quantitative test to examine performance of the "capillary falling ball viscometer (CFV)" were carried out using aqueous solutions of triethylene glycol (TEG) and diethylene glycol (DEG). We used TEG and DEG instead of blood since wide range of viscosities can be easily prepared simply by mixing the glycols with water. In the qualitative experiment, fairly consistent falling times were produced for various concentrations of the TEG under different measuring angles (10째, 20째, 30째, 45째 and 90째). The quantitative performance of CFV was analyzed using DEG solutions at 20째 angle, resulting reasonable consistency when compared with publicized viscosity values. Also blood samples from patient and healthy people were used to measure viscosity under different angles, producing non-Newtonian behavior of blood with interpretation based on modified Stokes equation. Attributes of small sample volume, short measurement time and a single automatic process are thought be suitable merits as a blood viscometer in POC environment.
- KSP Keywords
- Aqueous solution, Bio-glue, Blood sample, Blood viscosity, Capillary tube, Diethylene glycol(DEG), Different angles, Measurement process, Non-Newtonian behavior, Point-of-care, Qualitative experiment