Model-referenced cardiovascular circulatory simulator: construction and control

Physiological feasibility is the most important requirement for cardiovascular circulatory simulators (CCSs). However, previous simulators have been validated by a comparison with specific human data sets, which are valid only for very limited conditions, and so it is difficult to validate the fidelity of a CCS for various body conditions. To overcome this critical limitation, we propose a model-referenced CCS that reproduces the behavior of an electrical-analog model of the cardiovascular circulatory system, for which physiological fidelity is well established over a wide range. In this study, the electrical-analog reference model was realized in the hardware simulator using fluidic element modeling and by the feedback control of a mock ventricle. The proposed simulator showed a good match with the reference model behavior, and its physiological validity was thereby verified. The proposed simulator is able to show responsiveness to various body conditions as well. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first report of an in vitro CCS verified to be consistent with reference model behavior.