• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.913-919
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• 2012

This paper presents results for dispensing and measuring micro-particles using a pneumatic dispensing system. Particle-suspended liquid droplets were dispensed and analyzed quantitatively at various particle concentrations and applied pressures. By using a developed experimental setup, the number of particles and the particle volume ratio in sequentially dispensed droplets were measured. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces were tested to find a suitable surface for counting the number of particle. It was confirmed that the dispensed particles concentrated into the center of the droplet on the smooth CD surface after evaporation of liquid. As the applied positive pressure increased, the number of particles per droplet increased consistently and the volume fraction of particles remained constant.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.300-307
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• 2022

Time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) is a powerful technique for determining temporal variations in the structural properties of biomacromolecules on ultra-short time scales without causing structure damage by employing femtosecond X-ray laser pulses generated by an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL). The mixing rate of reactants and biomolecule samples, as well as the hit rate between crystal samples and x-ray pulses, are critical factors determining TR-SFX performance, such as accurate image acquisition and efficient sample consumption. We here develop two distinct sample delivery systems that enable ultra-fast mixing and on-demand droplet injecting via pneumatic application with a square pulse signal. The first strategy relies on inertial mixing, which is caused by the high-speed collision and subsequent coalescence of droplets ejected through a double nozzle, while the second relies on on-demand pneumatic jetting embedded with a 3D-printed micromixer. First, the colliding behaviors of the droplets ejected through the double nozzle, as well as the inertial mixing within the coalesced droplets, are investigated experimentally and numerically. The mixing performance of the pneumatic jetting system with an integrated micromixer is then evaluated by using similar approaches. The sample delivery system devised in this work is very valuable for three-dimensional biomolecular structure analysis, which is critical for elucidating the mechanisms by which certain proteins cause disease, as well as searching for antibody drugs and new drug candidates.