• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.274.2-274.2
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• 2013

We described a simple and efficient fabrication method for generating microfluidic channels with a circular-cross sectional geometry by exploiting the reflow phenomenon of a thick positive photoresist. Initial rectangular shaped positive photoresist micropatterns on a silicon wafer, which were fabricated by a conventional photolithography process, were converted into a half-circular shape by tuning the temperature to around $105^{\circ}C$. Through optimization of the reflow conditions, we could obtain a perfect circular micropattern of the positive photoresist, and control the diameter in a range from 100 to 400 ${\mu}m$. The resultant convex half-circular photoresist was used as a template for fabricating a concave polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) through a replica molding process, and a circular PDMS microchannel was produced by bonding two half-circular PDMS layers. A variety of channel dimensions and patterns can be easily prepared, including straight, S-curve, X-, Y-, and T-shapes to mimic an in vivo vascular network. To inform an endothelial cell layer, we cultured primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) inside circular PDMS microchannels, and demonstrated successful cell adhesion, proliferation, and alignment along the channel.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.77-84
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• 2014

The lattice Boltzmann (LB) method has been used to simulate rarefied gas flows in a micro-system as an alternative tool. However, previous results were mainly focused on a simple geometry with flat walls because the LB method is modeled on uniform Cartesian lattices. When previous boundary conditions for the microflows are applied to curved walls, the use of them requires approximation of the curved boundary by a series of stair steps, and introduces additional errors. For macroflows, no-slip curved wall boundary treatments have been developed remarkably in order to overcome these limits. However, the investigations for the slip curved wall boundary have rarely been performed for microflows. In this work, a curved boundary treatment of the LB method for a slip flow has been introduced. The results of the LB method for 2D microchannel and 3D microtube flows are in excellent agreement with the analytical solutions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.437-441
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• 2014

This paper presents a novel microplatform for high power generation based on reverse electrodialysis. The ideal cation-selective membrane for power generation was realized using geometrically controlled in situ self-assembled nanoparticles. Our proposed membranes can be constructed through a simple and cost-effective process that uses microdroplet control with nanoparticles in a microchannel. Another advantage of our system is that the maximum power and energy conversion efficiency can be improved by changing the geometry of the microchannel and proper selection of the nanoparticle size and material. This proposed platform can be used to supply power sources to other microdevices and contribute to a fundamental understanding of ion transport behavior and the power generation mechanism.

• 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%).

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.51-60
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• 2005

This paper reviews the studies on the pressure drop and the heat transfer in microchannels. Although a lot of studies about the single-phase flow have been done until now, conflicting results are occasionally reported about flow transition from laminar flow to turbulent flow, friction factor, and Nusselt number. Some studies reported the early flow transition due to relatively greater wall effect like surface roughness, but the other studies showed that the flow transition occurred at the Reynolds number of about 2300 and the early flow transition might be due to less accurate measurement of the channel geometry. Also, there have been arguments whether the conventional relation based upon continuum theory can be applied to the fluid flow and the heat transfer in microchannels without modification or not. The studies about the two-phase flow in microchannels have been mostly about investigating the flow pattern and the pressure drop in rectangular channels using two-component, two-phase flow like air/water mixture. Some studies proposed correlations to predict two-phase flow pressure drop in microchannels. They were mostly based on Lockhart-Martinelli model with modification on C-coefficient, which was dependent on channel geometry, Reynolds number, surface tension, and so on. Others investigated the characteristics of flow boiling heat transfer in microchannels with respect to test parameters such as mass flux, heat flux, system pressure, and so on. The existing studies have not been fully satisfactory in providing consistent results about the pressure drop and the heat transfer in microchannels. Therefore, more in-depth studies should be done for understanding the fundamentals of the transport phenomena in the microchannels and giving the basic guidelines to design the micro devices.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.147-156
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• 2007

The orientation and deformation of polymer chains in a confined channel flow has been investigated. The polymer chain was modeled as a Finitely Extensible Nonlinear Elastic (FENE) dumbbell. The Brownian configuration field method was extended to take the interaction between the flow and local chain dynamics into account. Drag and Brownian forces were treated as anisotropic in order to reflect the influence of the wall in the confined flow. Both Poiseuille flow and 4 : 1 contraction flow were considered. Of particular interest was molecular tumbling of polymer chains near the wall. It was strongly influenced by anisotropic drag and high shear close to the wall. We discussed the mechanism of this particular behavior in terms of the governing forces. The dumbbell configuration was determined not only by the wall interaction but also by the flow type of the geometric origin. The effect of extensional flow on dumbbell configuration was also discussed by comparing with the Poiseuille flow.