Development of a Compact X-ray PIV System and New X-ray Flow Tracers - Visualization of Opaque Biofluid Flows using X-ray PIV System

Abstract

A compact X-ray particle image velocimetry (PIV) system employing a medical X-ray tube as a light source was developed to obtain quantitative velocity field information of opaque flows. The X-ray PIV system consists of a medical X-ray tube, an X-ray CCD camera, a programmable shutter for generating a pulse-type X-ray beam, and a synchronization device. Through performance tests, the feasibility of the developed Xray PIV system as a flow measuring device was verified. In applying the developed system to biofluid flows, the most important prerequisite is to develop suitable flow tracers which should be detected clearly by the X-ray imaging system. Iopamidol was encapsulated into the poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) microparticles to fabricate such flow tracers. The characteristics of the fabricated microparticles were checked. With increasing the amount of crosslinker, the degree of crosslinking and the efficiency of the Iopamidol encapsulation were increased. This compact X-ray PIV system is a unique and useful for investigating various biofluid flows in laboratory experiments.