Patent ID: 8753515

Claim:
A method of performing dialysis, comprising: operating a first pump to pump dialysate at a first flow rate through a fluid inlet pathway into a dialyzer; operating a second pump to pump the dialysate through a fluid outlet pathway out of the dialyzer; operating a third pump to pump the dialysate through the fluid outlet pathway in cooperation with the second pump, wherein the second and third pumps cooperate to collectively achieve a second flow rate through the fluid outlet pathway from the dialyzer; pumping blood through the dialyzer in communication with the dialysate such that the dialyzer dialyzes the blood; varying the pumping speed of at least one of the first pump, second pump and third pump to allow the dialyzer to individually perform hemodialysis, ultrafiltration and hemodiafiltration based on relative pumping speeds between the first pump, second pump and third pump; calibrating periodically the first pump, second pump, and third pump by diverting a fluid traveling from the fluid inlet pathway to the fluid outlet pathway through a bypass conduit such that the fluid bypasses the dialyzer.