• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.378-382
• /
• 2004

A micromachined fluidic structure for the introduction of liquid samples into a chip-based sensor array composed of individually addressable polymeric microbeads has been developed. The structure consists of a separately attached cover glass, a single silicon chip having micromachined channels and microbead storage cavities, and a glass carver. In our sensor array, transduction occurs via colorimetric and fluorescence changes to receptors and indicator molecules that are covalently attached to termination sites on the polymeric microbeads. Data streams are acquired for each of the individual microbeads using a CCD. One of the key parts of the structure is a passive fluid introduction system driven only by capillary force. The velocity of penetration of a horizontal capillary for the device having a rectangular cross section has been derived, and it is quite similar to the Washburn Equation calculated for a pipe with a circular cross section having uniform radius. The test results show that this system is useful in a ${\mu}$-TAS and biomedical applications.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.30 no.2 s.245
• /
• pp.110-116
• /
• 2006

A syringe pump or a device using high electric voltage has been used for controlling flows inside a LOC (lab-on-a-chip). Compared to LOC, however, these microfluidic devices are large and heavy that they are burdensome for a portable ${\mu}-TAS$ (micro total analysis system). In this study, a new flow control technique employing pressure regulators and pressure chambers was developed. This technique utilizes compressed air to control the micro-scale flow inside a LOC, instead of a mechanical actuator or an electric power supply. The pressure regulator controls the output air pressure by adjusting the variable resistor attached. We checked the feasibility of this system by measuring the flow rate inside a capillary tube of $100{\mu}m$ diameter in the Re numbers ranged from 0.5 to 50. In addition, the performance of this flow control system was compared with that of a conventional syringe pump. The developed flow control system was found to show superior performance, compared with the syringe pump. It maintains automatically the: air pressure inside a pressure chamber whether the flow inside the capillary tube is on or off. Since the flow rate is nearly proportional to the resistance, we can control flow in multiple microchannels precisely. However, the syringe pump shows large variation of flow rate when the fluid flow is blocked in the microchannel.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.77-82
• /
• 2010

Our study aims to understand the flow of liquid in an open-top rectangular microchannel that can be used in micro total analysis systems ($\mu$-TAS) because it has advantages in terms of light transmission and energy efficiency. We measured the liquid velocity using particle tracking technique and conducted a simulation with computational fluid dynamics by altering the area of channel cross section and channel length for the capillary-driven flow in the open-top rectangular microchannel. When liquid water drops to an entrance of the fabricated microchannel with a height of 20 μm and a width of 20 ${\mu}m$, it flows along the microchannel by only capillary force. In the wetting behavior of the liquid, important parameters of this flow are channel size, contact angle and liquid properties such as surface tension and viscosity, which are used to control the flow of liquid in the microchannel.