• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1549-1556
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• 2004

We have deigned, fabricated and compared four different types of static chaos microfluid mixers, including the mixers using straight channel flow, microblock-induced alternating whirl flow, microchannel-induced lamination flow, and combined alternating whirl-lamination flow. Among them, the alternating whirl-lamination (AWL-type) mixer, composed of 3-D rotationally arranged microblocks and dividing microchannels fabricated by conventional planar lithography process, is effective to reduce the mixing length over wide flow rate ranges. We characterize the performance of the fabricated mixers, through the flow visualization technique using phenolphthalein solution. We verify that the AWL-type microfluid mixer shows the shortest fluid mixing length of 2.8mm∼5.8mm for the flow rate range of Re=0.26∼26 with the pressure drop lower than 5kPa. Compared to the previous mixers, requiring the mixing lengths of 7∼17mm, the AWL-type microfluid mixer results in the 60% reduction of the mixing lengths. Due to the reduced mixing lengths within reasonable pressure drop ranges, the present micromixers have potentials for use in the miniaturized Micro-Total-Analysis-Systems($\mu$TAS).

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.795-801
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• 2008

An experimental study has been performed on the single phase flow and convective heat transfer in trapezoidal microchannels. The microchannel was about $270{\mu}m$ wide, $800{\mu}m$ deep. and 7 mm long, which might ensure hydrodynamically fully-developed laminar flow at a low Reynolds number. The experiments were conducted with R1l3 and water, with the Reynolds number ranging from approximately 30 to 5000 for friction factor and 30 to 700 for the Nusselt number. Friction factors in laminar are found to be in good agreement with the predictions of existing correlation suggesting that a conventional analysis approach can be employed in predicting flow friction behavior in microchannels. However turbulent friction factors are hardly predictable by the existing correlations. The experimental results show that the Nusselt number is not a constant but increases almost linearly with the Reynolds number even the flow is fully developed (Re < 100). The dependence of the Nusslet number on the Reynolds number is contradictory to the conventional theory. At a Reynolds number greater than 100, the Nusselt number increases slowly with the Reynolds number, where thennally developing flow is responsible for the increase of the Nusselt number with the Reynolds number.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.649-654
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• 2005

This paper presents fabrication and drive test of a peristaltic PDMS micropump actuated by the thermopneumatic force. The micropump consists of the three peristaltic-type actuator chambers with microheaters on the glass substrate and a microchannel connecting the chambers and the inlet/outlet port. The micropump is fabricated by the spin-coating process, the two-step curing process, the JSR (negative PR) molding process, and etc. The diameter and the thickness of the actuator diaphragm are 2.5 mm and $30{\mu}m$, respectively. The meniscus motion in the capillary tube is observed with a video camera and the flow rate of the micro pump is calculated through the frame analysis of the recorded video data. The maximum flow rate of the micropump is about $0.36\;{\mu}L/sec$ at 2 Hz for the zero hydraulic pressure difference when the 3-phase input voltage is 20 V.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03b
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• pp.671-674
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• 2008

We investigate the slippage effect in a micro-channel depending on the surface characteristics; hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and super-hydrophobic wettabilities. The micro-scale grooves are fabricated on the vertical wall to make the super-hydrophobic surfaces, which enable us visualize the flow fields near walls and directly measure the slip length. Velocity profiles are measured using micro-particle image velocimetry (Micro-PIV) and compared those in the hydrophilic glass, hydrophobic PDMS, and super-hydrophobic PDMS micro-channels. To directly measure the velocity in the super-hydrophobic micro-channel, the transverse groove structures are fabricated on the vertical wall in the micro-channel. The velocity profile near the wall shows larger slip length and, if the groove structure is high and wide, the liquid meniscus forms curves into the valley so that the wavy flow is created after the grooves.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.231-236
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• 2004

A normally open thermopneumaticc-actuated microvalve has been fabricated and their properties are investigated. The advantages of the proposed microvalve are of the low cost fabrication process and the transparent optical property using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and indium tin oxide (ITO) glass. The fabricated microvalves with in-channel configuration are easily integrated with other microfluidic devices on the same substrate. The fabrication process of thermopneumatic-actuated microvalvesusing PDMS is very simple and its performance is very suitable for a disposable lab-on-a-chip. The PDMS membrane deflection increases and the flow rates of the microchannel with microvalvels decrease as the applied power to the ITO heater increases. The powers at flow-off are dependent on the membrane thickness and the applied inlet pressure but are independent of the channel width of microvalves. The flow rate is well controlled by the switching function of ITO heater and the closing/opening times are around 20 sec and 25 sec, respectively.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.587-593
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• 2002

The present research proposes a pressure based approach along with Langmuir slip condition for predicting microscale fluid flows. Using this method, gaseous slip flows in 2 -dimensional microchannels are numerically investigated. Compared to the DSMC simulation, statistical errors could be avoided and computing time is much less than that of the aforementioned molecular approach. Maxwell slip boundary condition is also studied in this research. These two slip conditions give similar results except for the pressure nonlinearity at high Knudsen number regime. However, Langmuir slip condition seems to be more promising because this does not need to calculate the streamwise velocity gradient accurately and to calibrate the empirical accommodation coefficient. The simulation results show that the proposed method using Langmuir slip condition is an effective tool for predicting compressibility and rarefaction in microscale slip flows.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.6 s.237
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• pp.904-912
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• 2005

The flow in a microchannel is usually characterized as a low Reynolds number (Re) so that good mixing is quite difficult to be achieved. In this regard, we developed a novel chaotic micromixer, named Barrier Embedded Kenics Micromixer (BEKM). In the BEKM, the higher level of chaotic mixing can be achieved by combining two general chaotic mixing mechanisms: (i) splitting/reorientation by helical elements inside the microchannel and (ii) stretching/folding via periodically located barriers on the channel wall. The fully three-dimensional geometry of BEKM was realized by a micro-stereolithography technology, in this study, along with a Kenics micromixer and a circular T-pipe. Mixing performances of three micromixers were experimentally characterized in terms of an average mixing color intensity of phenolphthalein. Experimental results show that BEKM has better mixing performance than other two micromixers. Chaotic mixing mechanism, proposed in this study, could be integrated as a mixing component with Micro-Total-Analysis-System, Lab-on-a-chip and so on.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2012

In the present study, oxygen transfer process across gas-liquid interface in a Y-shape micro-channel is quantitatively visualized using the micro laser induced fluorescence (${\mu}$-LIF) technique. Diffusion coefficient of Oxygen ($D_L$) is estimated based on the experimental results and compared to its theoretical value. Tris ruthenium (II) chloride hexahydrate was used as the oxygen quenchable fluorescent dye. A light-emitting diode (LED) with wavelength of 450 nm was used as the light source and phosphorescence images of fluorescent dye were captured by a CMOS high speed camera installed on the microscope system. Water having dissolved oxygen (DO) value of 0% and pure oxygen gas were injected into the Y-shaped microchannel by using a double loading syringe pump. In-situ pixel-by-pixel calibration was carried out to obtain Stern-Volmer plots over whole flow field. Instantaneous DO concentration fields were successfully mapped according to Stern-Volmer plots and DL was calculated as $2.0675{\times}10^{-9}\;m^2/s$.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.625-631
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• 2013

Two-phase pressure drop experiments were performed during flow boiling to deionized water in a microchannel having a hydraulic diameter of $500{\mu}m$. Tests were made in the ranges of heat fluxes from 100 to $400kW/m^2$, vapor qualities from 0 to 0.2 and mass fluxes of 200, 400 and $600kg/m^2s$. The frictional pressure drop during flow boiling is predicted by using two models; the homogeneous model that assumes equal phase velocity and the separate flow model that allows a slip velocity between two phases. From the experimental results, it is found that the two phase multiplier decreases with an increase in mass flux. Measured data of pressure drop are compared to a few available correlations proposed for macroscale and mini/microscale. Among the separated flow models, the correlation model suggested by Lee and Garimella predicted the frictional pressure drop within MAE of 47.2%, which is better than other correlations.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.471-475
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• 2006

Filling the microchannels is very important in designing micro-injection molding, microdevices, etc. In this paper, flow dynamics was studied in injection molding with microchannels. A transparent PMMA mold was designed and the flow dynamics was observed. The experiment was performed using poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) and polyacrylamide (PA) aqueous solutions. The transignt dynamic flow and flow competition between the base plate and the microchannels were observed. The flow observation was used to explain previous filling length results in microchannels during micro-injection molding.