Technical evaluation of oxygen transfer rates of fish gills and artificial gills

An artificial gill, which takes oxygen from water, would enhance the ability of people to function under water for extended periods. Increasing oxygen transfer rate, however, would be essential to the realization of compact, commercially viable equipment. Fish have evolved a variety of techniques to enable them to breathe under water, and their mechanisms must be clarified before compact, high-performance artificial gills can be developed. A model of the secondary lamellae of fish gills, through which oxygen is taken up from water to the blood, was devised, and its structure and oxygen transfer rate were evaluated by computer simulation analysis for carp and dogfish. Oxygen transfer rates were also found for an outside-water-flow artificial gill using a hollow fiber membrane at various fiber packing ratios. The biologic membrane is rate-determining for oxygen transfer through the secondary lamellae. Blood and water side boundary film resistances are small for fish because the blood and water channels are very narrow and numerous. When the fiber packing ratio of the artificial gill is raised, the oxygen transfer rate increases because of lower water side boundary film resistance. An optimum fiber packing ratio should be selected so that there is no major increase in pressure drop and no channeling occurs.