On-Chip Micro Mixer Driven by Elastic Wall with Virtual Actuator

Toshio Takayama,Makoto Kaneko,Chia-Hung Dylan Tsai

doi:10.3390/mi12020217

Toshio Takayama, Makoto Kaneko + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12020217

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Abstract

In this paper, we propose an on-chip micromixer driven by an elastic wall with a virtual actuator. The on-chip micro mixer is composed of a circular chamber surrounded by a ring-shaped channel under isolation with an elastic wall. When vibrational pressure is put on the driving channel by an actuator, the volume of the circular chamber changes through the deformation of the elastic wall, as if there exists a virtual actuator near the wall. As a result, the liquid in the circular chamber is pushed out and pulled through the neck channel. This action creates a swirling flow in the circular chamber while maintaining isolation from the driving channel. Through experiments, we confirmed the swirling flow under an isolated environment using an air-based valve. The advantage of this approach is that the micromixer can be designed with a single layer having a simple mechanism.

Highlights

Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Meijo University, Nagoya 468-8502, Japan; Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan; Current address: 2-12-1, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan
We propose an on-chip micromixer driven by an elastic wall, as shown in Figure 1b where the elastic wall is driven by the actuator attached at the end of the driving channel
We propose an on-chip mixer driven by an elastic wall with a virtual actuator, as shown in Figure 1b, where two isolated channels are implemented

Summary

Introduction

We confirmed the swirling flow under an isolated environment using an air-based valve The advantage of this approach is that the micromixer can be designed with a single layer having a simple mechanism. Large vessels such as dishes with diameters of several centimeters are often utilized in cell culture experiments as well as chemical experiments. Forry et al succeeded in creating a gradient of CO2 gas density by using the permeability of dimethylpolysiloxane (PDMS) [9] As for the latter, Meng et al. An issue with fabricating chambers having different densities is that it takes considerable time to uniformly mix the solution in each chamber, and it may cause different reactions in the chamber.

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Discussion

Conclusion