• 12 parts
  • Checked October 2026

Parts of a Dialysis Machine

A hemodialysis machine from the front, then the path the blood takes through its tubing.

Parts of a Dialysis Machine

Name Date

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
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Write the name of each numbered part.Answer key

  1. Dialyzer
  2. Blood pump
  3. Heparin pump
  4. Pressure monitors
  5. Dialysate concentrate
  6. Hollow fibers
  7. Dialysate lines
  8. Drip chamber
  9. Air detector
  10. Venous clamp
  11. Venous line
  12. Blood leak detector

Drawn for this site on 2026-10-01 from plain geometry. Licence: own work.

Each numbered ring is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a part is answered.

Next step Next: the kidney itself

All 12 parts on the diagram

Show the list

The machine 5

  1. Dialyzer The filter that cleans the blood, sometimes called an artificial kidney.
  2. Blood pump Its rollers squeeze the tubing and push the blood along.
  3. Heparin pump Holds a syringe of heparin, a medicine that keeps blood from clotting.
  4. Pressure monitors They measure the pressure in the blood tubing.
  5. Dialysate concentrate Two jugs of concentrate for the machine. It mixes this with clean water.

Blood path 7

  1. Hollow fibers Very thin tubes inside the dialyzer. The blood flows through them.
  2. Dialysate lines They carry dialysate into the dialyzer and away again.
  3. Drip chamber A small chamber where air bubbles rise out of the blood.
  4. Air detector A sensor that watches the tubing for air bubbles.
  5. Venous clamp Jaws that can squeeze the tubing shut.
  6. Venous line The tubing that carries the cleaned blood back.
  7. Blood leak detector Checks the used dialysate for any trace of blood.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-10-01 and kept only where two independent sources use it. (1) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH), Hemodialysis, https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/kidney-failure/hemodialysis . (2) Indian Society of Nephrology guideline, Selection and Use of Machine, Dialyzer and Dialysis Fluid for Maintenance Hemodialysis, Indian Journal of Nephrology 2020, open access, https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC7598395 . (3) Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Hemodialysis Equipment and Practices in Massachusetts (1986), https://archive.org/details/hemodialysisequi00mass . (4) Wikipedia, text only: Hemodialysis, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemodialysis . (5) A national occupational standard for dialysis technicians, read as text, https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-5725873 . Dialyzer is in all five; blood pump in 2, 3 and 5; heparin pump in 2, with 3 (infusion pumps for anticoagulation) and 5 (heparin infusion line); pressure monitors in 2 and 3; dialysate concentrate in 2, 3 and 4; hollow fibers in 1, 3 and 4; dialysate lines in 3, with 1 and 4 describing the flow; drip chamber (bubble trap) in 2 and 5; air detector in 2 and 3; venous clamp in 2 and 3; venous line in 2 and 3; blood leak detector in 1, 2 and 3. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-01 from plain geometry; no maker's machine, nobody drawn, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The parts of a dialysis machine in two drawings: the front of a hemodialysis machine, and the path the blood takes through the tubing. Names only: nothing here is medical advice.

Read the full guide

The machine

The dialyzer is the filter, a long cylinder clipped to the side. The blood pump turns rollers that push blood through the tubing. Beside it, the heparin pump holds a syringe, and two pressure monitors read the pressure in the tubing. Jugs of dialysate concentrate stand next to the machine, which mixes the concentrate with clean water to make dialysate.

The blood's path

Blood passes the pump and runs through the hollow fibers of the dialyzer. Dialysate lines carry dialysate round the outside of the fibers, and a blood leak detector checks it on the way out. The blood then passes a drip chamber, an air detector and the venous clamp, and the venous line carries it back.

  • This page names parts only. It is not medical advice.

Questions and answers

What are the main parts of a dialysis machine?

A blood pump, a dialyzer (the filter) and a system that mixes and delivers dialysate. On the tubing are the safety parts: pressure monitors, a drip chamber, an air detector, a venous clamp and a blood leak detector.

What does the dialyzer do?

It is the filter, sometimes called an artificial kidney. Blood flows through its hollow fibers while dialysate flows the other way round the outside of them, and wastes move from the blood into the dialysate.

What is dialysate?

The fluid that takes up the wastes, also called dialysis solution. The machine makes it by mixing concentrate with purified water and sends it through the dialyzer.

What is the drip chamber on a dialysis machine?

A small upright chamber in the tubing after the dialyzer, also called a bubble trap. Air that has got into the tubing collects there, and an air detector sits on the tubing just past it.

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