• Clean Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.283-288
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• 2019

Monodisperse microparticles has been particularly enabling for various applications in the encapsulation and delivery of pharmaceutical agents. The microfluidic devices are attractive candidates to produce highly uniform droplets that serve as templates to form monodisperse microparticles. The microfluidic devices that have micro-scale channel allow precise control of the balance between surface tension and viscous forces in two-phase flows. One of its essential abilities is to generate highly monodisperse droplets. In this paper, a microfluidic approach for preparing monodisperse polycaprolactone (PCL) microparticles is presented. The microfluidic devices that have a flow-focusing generator are manufactured by soft-lithography using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The crucial factors in the droplet generation are the controllability of size and monodispersity of the microdroplets. For this, the volumetric flow rates of the dispersed phase of oil solution and the continuous phase of water to generate monodisperse droplets are optimized. As a result, the optimal flow condition for droplet dripping region that is able to generate uniform droplet is found. Furthermore, the droplets containing PCL polymer by solvent evaporation after collection of droplet from device is solidified to generate the microparticle. The particle size can be controlled by tuning the flow rate and the size of the microchannel. The monodispersity of the PCL particles is measured by a coefficient of variation (CV) below 5%.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.58-64
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• 2019

This study presents a novel method for preparing monodisperse polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) microparticles in a dispensing needle based microfluidic device. The microfluidic devices are manufactured by manually assembling various off-the-shelf products without using additional equipment. In this microfluidic device, the volumetric flow rates of the dispersed phase of PEGDA solution and the continuous phase of oil are controlled to generate monodisperse PEGDA droplets. The PEGDA droplet contains photo-initiator thus it is crosslinked to microparticle by photopolymerization at the ends of the device. The particle size is easily controlled by adjusting the volume flow rate and the size of the microfluidic device. The monodispersity of the particles is calculated by a coefficient of variation of 2.57%. To demonstrate the biological applications of PEGDA particles, cells are encapsulated and observed for proliferation and viability.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.61-66
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• 2010

In our previous work, 3-dimensional hydrodynamic focusing microfluidic device (3D-HFMD) has been developed with the help of locally increased aspect ratio of thickness to width without any horizontal separation wall. In this study, we have investigated 3-dimensional hydrodynamic focusing behaviors inside the 3D-HFMD according to the various geometric and flow conditions. The parametric study has been extensively carried out for the effects of geometric and flow conditions on 3-dimensional hydrodynamic focusing with both 3D-HFMD and previous microfluidic device design based on three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The CFD simulations suggested the proper design window of channel geometry and flow conditions.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.761-766
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• 2018

Droplet-based microfluidic device has led to transformational new approaches in various applications including materials synthesis and high-throughput screening. However, efforts are required to enhance the production rate to industrial scale because of low production rate in a single droplet generator. In here, we present a method for enhancing production rate of monodisperse droplets via parallelization of flow-focusing generators. For this, we fabricated a three-dimensional monolithic elastomer device (3D MED) that has the 3D channel structures in a single layer, using a double-sided imprinting method. We demonstrated that the production rate of monodisperse droplet is increased by controlling the flow rate of continuous and dispersed phases in 3D MED with 8 droplet generators. Thus, we anticipate that this microfluidic system will be used in wide area including microparticle synthesis and screening system via encapsulation of various materials and cells in monodisperse droplets.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.977-978
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• 2011

• Clean Technology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.270-278
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• 2017

This study introduces a method to easily fabricate highly monodisperse pectin hydrogel microfibers in a microfluidic device by using partial gelation. The hydrodynamic parameters between the pectin aqueous solution and the calcium ions containing oil solution are precisely controlled to form a stable elongation flow of the pectin aqueous solution, and partial gelation of the pectin aqueous solution is performed by the chelating of the calcium ions at the interface between the two phases. The partially gelled pectin aqueous solution is phase-separated from the oil solution in an aqueous calcium chloride solution outside the microfluidic device and is completely gelled to produce monodisperse pectin hydrogel microfibers. The thickness of the pectin hydrogel microfiber is controlled in a reproducible manner by controlling the volumetric flow rate of the initially injected pectin aqueous solution. The pectin hydrogel microfibers were 200 to 500 micrometers in diameter and had a coefficient of variation below 5% under all thickness conditions, indicating that the pectin hydrogel microfibers produced by partial gelation are highly monodisperse. In addition, biomaterials can be immobilized to the pectin hydrogel microfibers produced by a single process, demonstrating the possibility that our pectin hydrogel microfiber can be used as carriers for biomaterials or tissue engineering.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.305-308
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• 2006

For controlling micro-flows inside a LOC (lab-on-a-chip) a syringe pump or an electronic device for EOF(electro-osmotic flow) have been used in general. However, these devices are so large and heavy that they are burdensome in the development of a portable micro-TAS (total analysis system). In this study, a new flow control system employing pressure chambers, digital switches and speed controllers was developed. This system could effectively control the micro-scale flows inside a LOC without any mechanical actuators or electronic devices We also checked the feasibility of this new control system by applying it to a LOC of micro-mixer type. Performance tests show that the developed control system has very good performance. Because the flow rate in LOC is controlled easily by throttling the speed controller, the flows in complicate microchannels network can be also controlled precisely.

• 한국가시화정보학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.66-70
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• 2007

현재 많은 연구들이 작은 크기에 여러 공정을 집적시킬 수 있는 장점을 가진 마이크로 장치의 개발과 활용에 집중되고 었다. 마이크로 장치에서 가장 중요한 것은 미세 유동의 효율적인 제어이다. 본 연구에서는 마이크로 장치에 직접 적용 가능한 표면 개질 된 마이크로 채널의 유동에 대하여 고려하였다. 표면 개질(surface treatment)은 물리적, 화학적인 작용을 통해서 채널 내부 표면의 습윤성을 변화시켜 유동을 제어하는 방법이다. 친수성(glass)을 가지는 마이크로 채널 내부의 일부를 소수성(teflon)으로 개질 후, 고속카메라를 이용하여 채널 내부를 흐르는 유체의 유동 경계면 변화를 분석하였다. 또한 유동 해석을 위한 상용 코드(CFD-ACE)를 이용하여 유동에 대한 수치 해석을 진행하여 가시화된 실험 결과와 비교 분석하였다. 실험 결과와 수치 해석 결과를 통해, 친수성과 소수성 표면 배열에 따른 일시적인 유동 변화를 관찰하였다. 본 연구 결과를 통해 마이크로 채널 유동의 최적화 상태를 찾을 수 있으며, 보다 용이한 미세 유동 제어가 가능하다.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.671-677
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• 2010

In the present study, we designed a microfluidic platform for generating monodisperse droplets with diameters ranging from hundreds of nanometers to several micrometers. To generate fine droplets, T-junction and flow-focusing geometry are integrated into the microfluidic channel. Relatively large aqueous droplets are generated at the upstream T-junction and transported to the flow-focusing geometry, where each droplet is broken into smaller droplets of the desired size by the action of pressure and viscous stress. In this configuration, the flow rate of the inner fluid can be made very low, and the ratio of the inner- and outer-fluid flow rates in the flow-focusing region can be made very high. It has been shown that the present microfluidic device can generate droplets with diameters of approximately $1\;{\mu}m$ (standard deviation: <3%).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1217-1222
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• 2012

A wall flow sensor has been used for feedback flow control and wall shear stress measurement. In this study, we developed a new wall flow sensor by combining the PIV algorithm and the micro image sensor used in an optical mouse. The feasibility of the wall flow sensor was investigated by using simulated fluid flow experiments. Compared with the quadrature signal from imaging devices, the accuracy of the wall flow velocity measurement was improved and the dynamic range increased. In addition, the depth information of particles was also measured by using the defocusing imaging technique.