Design and Analysis of Filtration Membrane for Artificial Kidney

Filtration membrane for artificial kidney has been developed and introduced to the medical line as a replacement for hemodialysis and hemofiltration treatment. In this work, three different filter designs made of Silicon Nitride with varying membrane thickness were studied and the mechanical behavior of filtration membrane which is displacement and stress are analyzed using ANSYS. During the simulation, it was observed that the highest deflection occurred at the central region of the membrane. The relationship between membrane thickness and displacement can be observed from the results. Thinner membranes were found to generate higher displacement, as evidenced by Design 3, where a membrane thickness of 15 nm resulted in a recorded maximum deflection of 1.6 um. On the other hand, an increase in membrane thickness led to a decrease in deflection. It was also found that, Design 1, featuring the thinnest membrane of 15 nm, recorded the highest stress of 2.42 N/m2. The simulated results obtained from the simulation of filtration membrane can serve as a valuable reference for the future fabrication of filtration membranes for artificial kidneys.