%0 Journal Article %A Mawahib Gafare Abdalrahman Ahmed and Abdallah Belal Adam and John Ojur Dennis %D 2009 %J International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering %B World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology %I Open Science Index 26, 2009 %T Capacitive Air Bubble Detector Operated at Different Frequencies for Application in Hemodialysis %U https://publications.waset.org/pdf/2299 %V 26 %X Air bubbles have been detected in human circulation of end-stage renal disease patients who are treated by hemodialysis. The consequence of air embolism, air bubbles, is under recognized and usually overlooked in daily practice. This paper shows results of a capacitor based detection method that capable of detecting the presence of air bubbles in the blood stream in different frequencies. The method is based on a parallel plates capacitor made of platinum with an area of 1.5 cm2 and a distance between the two plates is 1cm. The dielectric material used in this capacitor is Dextran70 solution which mimics blood rheology. Simulations were carried out using RC circuit at two frequencies 30Hz and 3 kHz and results compared with experiments and theory. It is observed that by injecting air bubbles of different diameters into the device, there were significant changes in the capacitance of the capacitor. Furthermore, it is observed that the output voltage from the circuit increased with increasing air bubble diameter. These results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach in improving air bubble detection in Hemodialysis. %P 158 - 161