Drug delivery is the process of administering a pharmaceutical compound to achieve a therapeutic effect. Typically, the amount of drug delivered and the drug itself are the most important parameters. However, there is a significant percentage of drugs for which the actual flow rate is important for a safe and sound patient treatment. The metrological infrastructure is currently not fully developed for drug delivery applications. The goal of this joint research project is to make drug delivery more reliable and robust, especially for multi-pump infusion and applications involving very low flow rates. The work is carried out in cooperation between the following national metrology institutes and designated institutes: VSL, CETIAT, CMI, DTI, IPQ, METAS and TÜBİTAK UME.
TÜBİTAK UME will work on the determining characteristics of micro-flow flowmeters and performance of drug delivery devices in this project. To this end, the flow profiles of coriolis flowmeters working at very low flow-rates at different flow conditions will be defined by using the PIV system. Beside this, the change of flow characteristics of drug delivery devices as syringe and peristaltic pumps according to start-up time and accessories will be investigated. These works will be done for drug delivery involving low flow rates (lower than 100 ml/min) and ultra-low flow rates (10 ul/min).
(Completed)