Experimental Study on the Preload and Afterload Responses of a Pneumatic Mock Right Ventricle

Mock circulatory systems (MCSs) have been extensively used in the evaluation of cardiac assist devices, while the mock ventricle plays an important role in MCSs. In this study, the experimental study on the preload and afterload responses of a pneumatic mock right ventricle (RV) for the right ventricular assist devices (RVAD) evaluation are conducted. Based on the "hardware-in-the-loop" conception, the mock RV is realized by regulating the air pressure in a tank according to the real time reference from a running complete numerical circulation model in the computer. The pressure control is achieved by controlling the pneumatic proportional valves with a PID controller. The preload response is acquired by a series of isovolumic beats with different initial volumes, while the afterload response is obtained with variable pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) values. Compared with previous medical literatures, the experimental results satisfy well, demonstrating the effectiveness of the mock RV for RVAD evaluation.