Abstract
Abstract A digital microfluidic system based on electrowetting-on-dielectric is a new technology for controlling microliter-sized droplets on a plane. By applying a voltage signal to an electrode, the droplets can be controlled to move, merge, and split. Due to device design, fabrication, and runtime uncertainties, feedback control schemes are necessary to ensure the reliability and accuracy of a digital microfluidic system for practical application. The premise of feedback is to obtain accurate droplet position information. Therefore, there is a strong need to develop a digital microfluidics system integrated with driving, position, and feedback functions for different areas of study. In this article, we propose a driving and feedback scheme based on machine vision for the digital microfluidics system. A series of experiments including droplet motion, merging, status detection, and self-adaption are performed to evaluate the feasibility and the reliability of the proposed scheme. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme can accurately locate multiple droplets and improve the success rate of different applications. Furthermore, the proposed scheme provides an experimental platform for scientists who focused on the digital microfluidics system.
Highlights
A digital microfluidic (DMF) system is a new technology recently developed from the continuous microfluidic technology
We propose a driving and feedback scheme based on machine vision for DMF applications
We demonstrate a driving and feedback scheme based on machine vision for a DMF system
Summary
A digital microfluidic (DMF) system is a new technology recently developed from the continuous microfluidic technology. Compared with the continuous fluid microfluidic technology, DMF has unique advantages of effectively avoiding contamination between liquids and removing dead zones, greatly reducing reagent consumption [1–3]. A DMF system controls individual droplets on a planar electrode array by using various driving mechanisms, such as temperature gradient [4], acoustic wave [5], electrostatic [6], and electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) [7]. The EWOD-based DMF system has become a top research focus area due to its simple structure, easy fabrication, and strong driving forces [8,9]. The practicability of EWOD-based DMF as a lab-on-a-chip platform has been discussed and studied. Basic operations such as creating, moving, splitting, and merging droplets have been demonstrated in the previous studies [10–12]
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