• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.15-20
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• 2009

In a detection system based on laser light scattering, focusing an excitation laser beam into a focal point of a channel in a microfluidic chip is important for obtaining the highest excitation intensity, and consequently for obtaining a laser light scattering signal using a photodetector with a high efficiency. In this paper, we present a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic chip consisting of an integrated PDMS microlens for cell detection based on laser light scattering. We fabricated PDMS microlens for optical detection system by simply putting down on PDMS chips. The PDMS microlens was fabricated by photoresist reflow and replica molding. This fabrication technique is simple and has an excellent property in terms of the microlens and a high-dimensional accuracy. The PDMS microlens integrated on the PDMS microfluidic chip has been verified to improve the laser intensity, and accordingly, the signal-to-noise ratio and sensitivity of laser light scattering detection for red blood cells(RBCs)

• 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%).

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.237-241
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• 2018

The real-time enrichment and detection of pathogens are serious issues and rapidly evolving field of research because of the ability of these pathogens to cause infectious diseases. In general, bacterial detection is accomplished by conventional colony counting or by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) after DNA extraction. As colony counting requires considerable time to cultivate, PCR is an attractive method for rapid detection. A small number of pathogens can cause diseases. Hence, a pretreatment process, such as enrichment is essential for detecting bacteria in an actual environment. Thus, in this study, we developed a microfluidic chip capable of performing rapid enrichment of bacteria and the extraction of their genes. A lectin, i.e., Concanavalin A (ConA), which shows binding affinity to the surface of most bacteria, was coated on the surface of magnetic particles to nonspecifically capture bacteria. It was subsequently concentrated through magnetic forces in a microfluidic channel. To lyse the captured bacteria, magnetic particles were irradiated by a wavelength of 532nm. The photo-thermal effect on the particles was sufficient for extracting DNA, which was consequently utilized for the identification of bacteria. Our device will help monitor the existence of bacteria in various environmental situations such as water, air, and soil.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2015

In this paper, a novel fluid controlled phase tunable line using inkjet printed microfluidic composite right/left-handed(CRLH) transmission line(TL) is proposed. A CRLH-TL prototype has been inkjet-printed on a paper substrate using silver nano particle ink. In addition, a laser-etched microfluidic channel in poly methyl methacrylate(PMMA) has been integrated with the CRLH TL using inkjet-printed SU-8 as a bonding material. The proposed TL provides excellent phase-tuning capability that is dependent on the different fluidic materials used. As the fluid is changed, the proposed TL can have negative-phase, zero-phase, and positive-phase characteristics at 900 MHz and reflection coefficient is maintained to below -10 dB. The performance of the proposed TL is successfully validated using simulation and measurement results.

• 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.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.2457-2460
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• 2003

There is a great demand to manipulate biological cell autonomously since biologist should spend much time to obtain skillful manipulation techniques. For this purpose, we propose a cell chip to control, carry, fix and locate the cell. In this paper, we focus on the cell rotator to rotate individual biological cell based on a micro fluidics technology. The cell rotator consists of injection hole and rotation well to rotate a biological cell properly. Under the variation of flow rate in injection hole, the angular velocity of a biological cell is evaluated to find the feasibility of the proposed rotation method. As a practical experiment, Zebrafish egg is employed. Based on this research, we find the possibility of non-contact rotation way that can highly reduce the damage of the biological cell during manipulation. To realize an autonomous biological cell manipulation, a cell chip with manipulation well and micro channel in this research will be utilized effectively in near future.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.253-260
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• 2008

A method based on transient shear flow dynamics of red cell aggregates was developed to investigate reversible re-aggregation processes with decreasing shear flow. In the microchannel-flow aggregometry, the aggregated red blood cells that are subjected to continuously decreasing shear stress in microchannel flow were measured with the use of a laser-scattering technique. Both the laser-backscattered intensity and pressure were simultaneously measured with respect to time, resulting in shear stress ranging from $0{\sim}35\;Pa$ for a time period of less than 30 seconds. The time dependent recording of the backscattered light intensity (syllectogram) yielded an upward convex curve with a peak point, which reflected the transition threshold of aggregation in the RBC suspensions. Critical-time and critical-shear stress corresponding to the peak point were examined by varying the initial pressure-differential and the micro channel depth, and these results showed good potential for being used as new aggregation indices. In the present study, these newly proposed indices were also validated by differentiating the effect of fibrinogen on RBC aggregation and then these indices were compared to the conventional indices that were measured by a rotational aggregometer.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.89-95
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• 2012

In this paper, microchannels for the flow control of two fluids with different volumes have been designed, fabricated, and verified. The dimensions of the inlets were determined based on the Stokes equation in order to realize that the flow of the two fluids meet at the same time, and to maintain a certain configuration when the flows passed through each inlet channel. The designed microchannels were confirmed using computational fluid dynamics simulation for the incompressible, Newtonian, and transient flows. In addition, a microfluidic system containing the designed microchannels was fabricated by soft lithography, and the pressure-driven flows of the two fluids were characterized by microfluidic experiments.

• 한국가시화정보학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.79-84
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• 2002

Most microfluidic devices such as heat sinks for cooling micro-chips, DNA chip, Lab-On-Chip, and micro pumps etc. have microchannels of various size. Therefore, the design of practical microfluidics demands detail information on flow structure inside the microchannels. However, detail velocity field measurements are rare and difficult to carry out. In addition, as the microfluidics expands, accurate understanding of microscale transport phenomena becomes very important. In this research, micro-PIV system was employed to measure the velocity fields of flow inside a micro-channel. We carried out PIV measurements for several microchannels with varying channels width, inlet and outlet shape, filters, CCD camera and ICCD camera, etc. For effective composition of micro-PIV system, first of all, it is essential to understand optics related with micro-imaging of particles and the particle dynamics encountered in micro-scale channel flows. In addition, it is necessary to find the optimal condition for given experimental environment and? micro-scale flow to be investigated. The problems encountered in measuring velocity field of micro-channel flows are discussed in this paper.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.12
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• pp.1159-1165
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• 2013

Powder blasting, which is an efficient micromachining method for glass, silicon, and ceramics, has a critical disadvantage in that the surface finish is poor owing to the brittle fracture of materials. Low-pressure waterjet machining can be applied to smoothen the rough surface inside the blasted structure. In this study, the surface roughness and sectional dimension of micro-channels are observed during the repetitive application of a waterjet to blasted micro-channels. The asperities and subsurface cracks created by blasting are removed by waterjet machining. Along with the surface roughness, it is found that the sectional dimension increases and the edges of the finished micro-channel become slightly round. Finally, a microfluidic chip is machined by the blasting-waterjet process and a transparent microfluidic channel is obtained efficiently.