Asymmetrical Split-and-Recombine Micromixer with Baffles.

Wasim Raza,Kwang-Yong Kim

doi:10.3390/mi10120844

Abstract

The present work proposes a planar micromixer design comprising hybrid mixing modules of split-and-recombine units and curved channels with radial baffles. The mixing performance was evaluated numerically by solving the continuity and momentum equations along with the advection-diffusion equation in a Reynolds number range of 0.1–80. The variance of the concentration of the mixed species was considered to quantify the mixing index. The micromixer showed far better mixing performance over whole Reynolds number range than an earlier split-and-recombine micromixer. The mixer achieved mixing indices greater than 90% at Re ≥ 20 and a mixing index of 99.8% at Re = 80. The response of the mixing quality to the change of three geometrical parameters was also studied. A mixing index over 80% was achieved within 63% of the full length at Re = 20.

Highlights

The adoption of various microfluidic devices has advanced very fast and effectively in the field of chemical synthesis, biochemical analysis, biomedical diagnostics, and drug delivery [1,2,3]
The spatial discretization of the micromixer domain was done by using a hexahedral grid system
The analysis was performed for the mixing index at the exit in a wide range of node numbers of 3.82 × to 10.00 ×

Summary

Introduction

The adoption of various microfluidic devices has advanced very fast and effectively in the field of chemical synthesis, biochemical analysis, biomedical diagnostics, and drug delivery [1,2,3]. The advantages of microfluidic systems include reduced consumption of reagent and sample volumes, fast sample processing, low cost, better heat and mass transfer efficiency, improved portability, and scalability [4]. Mixing of two or more species is one of the fundamental processes that must be achieved for most of the microfluidic applications, such as biological and chemical analyses. Mixing through molecular diffusion is too slow and ineffective for most of the envisioned microfluidic applications. It is critical to develop efficient micromixers for the progress of microfluidic systems

Methods

Results

Conclusion