Constriction Microchannels Research Articles

A clogging-free microfluidic platform with an incorporated pneumatically driven membrane-based active valve enabling specific membrane capacitance and cytoplasm conductivity characterization of single cells

This study reports a microfluidic platform for clogging-free electrical property analysis of single cells. A pneumatically driven membrane-based active valve was integrated in this platform to unblock clogging events of constriction microchannels where pneumatic pressures were used to tune the deformation of a polydimethylsiloxan (PDMS) membrane serving as one wall of the constriction microchannel. The proposed platform was first tested to unblock trapped polystyrene beads at the entrance of constriction microchannels and then the characterization of the cellular electrical properties of lung cancer cells was successfully demonstrated. Results showed that the measured cytoplasm conductivity (0.74±0.20S/m) and specific membrane capacitance (2.17±0.58μF/cm2) of cells were consistent with the results from the previous publications (0.73±0.17S/m, and 2.00±0.60μF/cm2, respectively). Overall, this study has presented a microfluidic platform for single cell analysis with an enhanced function for unblocking cell aggregates at the entrance of microchannels.

Numerical modeling of Joule heating effects in insulator‐based dielectrophoresis microdevices

Insulator-based DEP (iDEP) has been established as a powerful tool for manipulating particles in microfluidic devices. However, Joule heating may become an issue in iDEP microdevices due to the local amplification of electric field around the insulators. This results in an electrothermal force that can manifest itself in the flow field in the form of circulations, thus affecting the particle motion. We develop herein a transient, 3D, full-scale numerical model to study Joule heating and its effects on the coupled transport of charge, heat, and fluid in an iDEP device with a rectangular constriction microchannel. This model is validated by comparing the simulation results with the experimentally obtained fluid flow patterns and particle images that were reported in our recent works. It identifies a significant difference in the time scales of the electric, temperature, and flow fields in iDEP microdevices. It also predicts the locations of electrothermal flow circulations in different halves of the channel at the upstream and downstream of the constriction.

Joule heating effects on electrokinetic focusing and trapping of particles in constriction microchannels

Joule heating (JH) is a ubiquitous phenomenon in electrokinetic microfluidic devices. Its effects on fluid and ionic species transport in capillary and microchip electrophoresis have been well studied. However, JH effects on the electrokinetic motion of microparticles in microchannels have been nearly unexplored in the literature. This paper presents an experimental investigation of JH effects on electrokinetic particle transport and manipulation in constriction microchannels under both pure dc and dc-biased ac electric fields. It is found that the JH effects reduce the dielectrophoretic focusing and trapping of particles, especially significant when dc-biased ac electric fields are used. These results are expected to provide a useful guidance for future designs of electrokinetic particle handling microdevices that will avoid JH effects or take advantage of them.

Joule heating effects on electroosmotic flow in insulator‐based dielectrophoresis

Insulator-based dielectrophoresis (iDEP) is an emerging technology that has been successfully used to manipulate a variety of particles in microfluidic devices. However, due to the locally amplified electric field around the in-channel insulator, Joule heating often becomes an unavoidable issue that may disturb the electroosmotic flow and affect the particle motion. This work presents the first experimental study of Joule heating effects on electroosmotic flow in a typical iDEP device, e.g., a constriction microchannel, under DC-biased AC voltages. A numerical model is also developed to simulate the observed flow pattern by solving the coupled electric, energy, and fluid equations in a simplified two-dimensional geometry. It is observed that depending on the magnitude of the DC voltage, a pair of counter-rotating fluid circulations can occur at either the downstream end alone or each end of the channel constriction. Moreover, the pair at the downstream end appears larger in size than that at the upstream end due to DC electroosmotic flow. These fluid circulations, which are reasonably simulated by the numerical model, form as a result of the action of the electric field on Joule heating-induced fluid inhomogeneities in the constriction region.

Integrated electrical concentration and lysis of cells in a microfluidic chip.

Lysing cells is an important step in the analysis of intracellular contents. Concentrating cells is often required in order to acquire adequate cells for lysis. This work presents an integrated concentration and lysis of mammalian cells in a constriction microchannel using dc-biased ac electric fields. By adjusting the dc component, the electrokinetic cell motion can be precisely controlled, leading to an easy switch between concentration and lysis of red blood cells in the channel constriction. These two operations are also used in conjunction to demonstrate a continuous concentration and separation of leukemia cells from red blood cells in the same microchannel. The observed cell behaviors agree reasonably with the simulation results.

Reconsideration of low Reynolds number flow-through constriction microchannels using the DSMC method

Gaseous flow through a microchannel is treated numerically and analytically in order to assess pressure and mass flow losses due to a constriction of a finite length. Numerical modeling of two-dimensional (2-D) microchannel flow in the slip and transitional regimes is carried out using the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The prediction of pressure losses and mass flow based on a simple analytic model for constriction microchannel flow are found to be in excellent agreement with DSMC simulations. Constriction has a dramatic effect on pressure loss and mass flow rate for the considered cases. The DSMC results indicate that the flow in the constriction microchannel separates in the transition section, but the separation does not significantly impact pressure distributions.

Pressure loss in constriction microchannels

Constriction devices contain elements inserted into the fluid stream, which change the local streamwise flow area. One such element is the orifice-like obstruction with sharp corners, a back-to-back abrupt contraction and expansion, which could trigger flow separation. A series of microchannels, 40 /spl mu/m /spl times/ 1 /spl mu/m /spl times/ 4000 /spl mu/m in nominal dimensions, with constriction elements at the centers of the channels has been fabricated using standard micromachining techniques. The channel widths at the constriction sections varied from 10 /spl mu/m to 34 /spl mu/m, with pressure sensors integrated in each channel. Nitrogen gas was passed through the microdevices under inlet pressure up to 50 psi. The mass flow rates were measured for all the devices as a function of the pressure drop. A monotonic decrease of the flow rate with decreasing constriction-gap width was observed. The pressure distribution along the microchannel with the smallest constriction gap showed a pressure drop across the constriction element. Both mass flow rate and pressure measurements indicate that flow separation from the constriction sharp corners could occur.