Blood viscometer with vacuum glass suction tube and needle.

A new type of viscometer for measuring human blood viscosity is made by using a vacuum glass tube and a capillary needle. This new viscometer needs a volume of only about 5 × 10–6–8 × 10–6 m3 of blood. Simple handling, quick measurement and accurate results in a wide shear rate range are its superior features. Additionally, the whole measuring set with the viscometer is easy to use and to carry, and it is not expensive.By using various standard-viscosity Newtonian liquids, it is confirmed experimentally that this viscometer is sufficiently accurate in the range of less than about 10–2 Pa·s. The viscosity of fresh human blood collected in a hospital is measured by the new viscometer and it is confirmed that the viscosity value obtained is reasonable by comparing it with that by a traditional measuring method. Further, it is shown that the new viscometer can measure the viscosities of other liquids which have complex properties.