Low consumption single-use microvalve for microfluidic PCB-based platforms

Abstract

In this paper, a single-use and unidirectional microvalve with low consumption of energy for PCB-based microfluidic platforms is reported. Its activation is easy because it works as a fuse. The fabrication process of the device is based on PCB technology and a typical SU-8 process, using the PCB as a substrate and SU-8 for the microfluidic channels and chambers. The microvalve is intended to be used to impulse small volumes of fluids and it has been designed to be highly integrable in PCB-based microfluidic platforms. The proposed device has been fabricated, integrated and tested in a general purpose microfluidic circuit, resulting in a low activation time, of about 100 μs, and a low consumption of energy, with a maximum of 27 mJ. These results show a significant improvement because the energy consumption is about 84% lower and the time response is about four orders of magnitude shorter if compared with similar microvalves for impulsion of fluids on PCB-based platforms.