Integration of a temperature sensor for in situ monitoring of an acoustophoretic separation system

A novel device that uses acoustics to separate contaminants from blood is currently being developed. One potential application of the technology is to remove lipids that are inadvertently introduced into circulation during retransfusion of shed blood in cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, thus helping to avoid post-operative impairments such as stroke. However, the acoustic energy that is supplied to the system to achieve the separation may be heating the blood above the physiologically safe temperature limit. Therefore, a temperature sensor is being developed for in situ monitoring of the acoustophoretic separation system to determine if the filtered blood is viable for retransfusion back into the patient.