Abstract
Microfluidics processes play a central role in the design of portable devices for biological and chemical samples analysis. The bottleneck in this technological evolution is the lack of low cost detection systems and control strategies easily adaptable in different operative conditions, able to guarantee the processes reproducibility and reliability, and suitable for on-chip applications. In this work, a methodology for velocity detection of two-phase flow is presented in microchannels. The approach presented is based on a low-cost optical signals monitoring setup. The slug flow generated by the interaction of two immiscible fluids {air and water} in two microchannels was investigated. To verify the reliability of the detection systems, the flow nonlinearity was enhanced by using curved geometries and microchannel diameter greater than 100 m. The optical signals were analyzed by using an approach in a time domain, to extract the slug velocity, and one in the frequency domain, to compute the slug frequency. It was possible to distinguish the water and air slugs velocity and frequency. A relation between these two parameters was also numerically established. The results obtained represent an important step in the design of non-invasive, low-cost portable systems for micro-flow analysis, in order to prove that the developed methodology was implemented to realize a platform, easy to be integrated in a System-on-a-Chip, for the real-time slug flow velocity detection. The platform performances were successfully validated in different operative conditions.
Highlights
Nowadays, the hydrodynamics of two-phase slug flows in microchannels [1] play an important role in the micro-nano technology, enabling the design for lab-on-chip devices in the bio-medical field as well as in chemical processes [2,3]
The bottleneck in this technological evolution is the lack of low cost detection systems and control strategies adaptable in different operative conditions, able to guarantee the processes reproducibility and reliability, and suitable for on-chip applications
The results obtained represent an important step in the design of non-invasive, low-cost portable systems for micro-flow analysis, in order to prove that the developed methodology was implemented to realize a platform, easy to be integrated in a System-on-a-Chip, for the real-time slug flow velocity detection
Summary
The hydrodynamics of two-phase slug flows in microchannels [1] play an important role in the micro-nano technology, enabling the design for lab-on-chip devices in the bio-medical field as well as in chemical processes [2,3] In this context, an open issue is that of developing detection systems, models, and control strategies adaptable in different operative conditions, are low-cost, able to guarantee the processes reproducibility and reliability, and suitable for on-chip applications [4,5]. The challenge nowadays is to have methodologies based on low cost technologies embedded in a portable device for real-time applications In this context, data-driven approaches based on monitoring optical signals [9] can represent a good alternative since they are non-invasive, offer an easy integration of optical sensors with the microfluidic chips [12,13], and, in future development, the possibility of being even embedded in a chip [14].
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