• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.568-572
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• 2009

We present a ternary microfluidic multiplexer unit, capable to address three flow channels using a pair of control lines with two different threshold pressure valves. The previous binary multiplexer unit addresses only two flow channels using a pair of control line with identical threshold pressure valves, thus addressing $2^{n/2}$ flow channels using n control lines. The present ternary multiplexer addressing three flow channels using a pair of control lines, however, is capable to address $3^{n/2}$ flow channels using n control lines with two different threshold pressure valves. In the experimental study, we characterized the threshold pressure and the response time of the valves used in the ternary multiplexer. From the experimental observation, we also verified that the present ternary multiplexer unit could be operated by two equivalent valve operating conditions: the different static pressures and dynamic pressures at different duty ratio. And then, $3{\times}3$ well array stacking ternary multiplexers in serial is addressed in cross and plus patterns, thus demonstrating the individual flow channel addressing capability of the ternary multiplexer. Thus, the present ternary multiplexer reduces the number of control lines for addressing flow channels, achieving the high well control efficiency required for simple and compact microfluidic systems.

• International Journal of CAD/CAM
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.183-192
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• 2006

A CAD/CAM system has been developed for rapid prototyping (RP) of microfluidic devices based on excimer laser micromachining. The system comprises of two complementary softwares. One, the CAM tool, creates part programs from CAD models. The other, the Simulator Tool, uses a part program to generate the laser tool path and the 2D and 3D graphical representation of the machined microstructure. The CAM tool's algorithms use the 3D geometry of a microstructure, defined as an STL file exported from a CAD system, and process parameters (laser fluence, pulse repetition frequency, number of shots per area, wall angle), to automatically generate Numerical Control (NC) part programs for the machine controller. The performance of the system has been verified and demonstrated by machining a particle transportation device. The CAM tool simplifies part programming and replaces the tedious trial-and-error approach to creating programs. The simulator tool accepts manual or computer generated part programs, and displays the tool path and the machined structure. This enables error checking and editing of the program before machining, and development of programs for complex microstructures. Combined, the tools provide a user-friendly CAD/CAM system environment for rapid prototyping of microfluidic devices.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.25-29
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• 2012

This paper introduces a new parameter to design the $2{\times}2$ microfluidic centrifuge with single flow rotation positioned at the center of microchamber. The dimensional centrifugal acceleration momentum flux which is defined as the interfacial momentum flux divided by distance from the center of the chamber explains the flow rotation and its threshold provides a reference to expect single flow rotation. Through the numerical and experimental visualization of the flow rotation, the number and position of flow rotation in the $2{\times}2$ microfluidic centrifuge were examined. At a channel width of $50{\mu}m$ and chamber width of $250{\mu}m$, single flow rotation was obtained over at a Reynolds number of 300, while at a channel width of $100{\mu}m$ and chamber width of $500{\mu}m$, single flow rotation did not appear. The numerical analysis showed that the threshold centrifugal acceleration momentum flux to obtain single flow rotation was $3500kg/m{\cdot}s^2$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2015

This paper presents a disposable passive suction pump that uses the restoring force of an elastomeric chamber for liquid transportation in a microfluidic system. The proposed suction pump can be operated by finger pressure without any peripheral equipment. To adjust the generated suction pressure, five different displacements of the suction chamber ceiling, two different chamber shapes, and five different elastic moduli of the elastomer were considered. For a cylindrical chamber with a 5 mm height and 5 mm radius, the generated suction pressure and flow rate increased almost linearly up to about 31 kPa and $160.8{\mu}L/min$, respectively, depending on the chamber deformation. A maximum suction pressure of $42.9{\pm}0.7kPa$ was obtained for a hemispherical chamber with a 2.1 mm height and 5 mm radius.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.739-743
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• 2008

Microfluidic device can be applied in a wide range of chemical and biological technology. In this paper, ceramic-based T-type passive mixers for microfluidic applications were fabricated by LTCC process combined with thick film photolithography. The base ceramic material in thick film was amorphous cordierite $((Mg,Ca)_2Al_4Si_5O_{18})$ and photoimageable polymers were added to give a photosensitivity. Two types of passive mixer, which showed the channel width of 1.0 mm and $200{\mu}m$, respectively, were designed considering mixing efficiency in the channel and their microfluidic properties were discussed in detail.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.192-196
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• 2009

Recently, the multi-screening of target materials has been made possible by the development of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging method. To adapt this method to biochemical analysis, the multi-patterning technology of protein microarrays is required. Among the different methods of fabricating protein microarrays, the microfluidic platform was selected due to its various advantages over other techniques. Microfluidic devices were designed and fabricated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) by the replica molding method. These devices were designed to operate using only capillary force, without the need for additional flow control equipment. With these devices, multiple protein-patterned sensor surfaces were made, to support the two-dimensional detection of various protein-protein interactions with SPR. The fabrication technique of protein microarrays can be applied not only to SPR imaging, but also to other biochemical analyses.

• BioChip Journal
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.257-267
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• 2018

Inertial microfluidics has attracted significant attention in recent years due to its superior benefits of high throughput, precise control, simplicity, and low cost. Many inertial microfluidic applications have been demonstrated for physiological sample processing, clinical diagnostics, and environmental monitoring and cleanup. In this review, we discuss the fundamental mechanisms and principles of inertial migration and Dean flow, which are the basis of inertial microfluidics, and provide basic scaling laws for designing the inertial microfluidic devices. This will allow end-users with diverse backgrounds to more easily take advantage of the inertial microfluidic technologies in a wide range of applications. A variety of recent applications are also classified according to the structure of the microchannel: straight channels and curved channels. Finally, several future perspectives of employing fluid inertia in microfluidic-based cell sorting are discussed. Inertial microfluidics is still expected to be promising in the near future with more novel designs using various shapes of cross section, sheath flows with different viscosities, or technologies that target micron and submicron bioparticles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.84-89
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• 2020

Cancer cells secrete angiogenic factors, and nearby vasculatures make new blood vessels essential for cancer development and metastasis in response to these soluble factors. Many efforts have been made to elucidate cancer-endothelial cell interactions in vitro. However, not much is known due to the lack of a suitable co-culture platform. Here, we introduce a 3D printing-based microfluidic system that mimics the in vivo-like cancer-endothelial cell interactions. The tumoroids and endothelial cells are co-cultured, physically separated by porous fibrin gel, allowing communication between two cell types through soluble factors. Using this microfluidic system, we were able to visualize new vessel formation induced by tumoroids of different origins, including liver, breast, and ovary. We confirmed that the ovarian tumoroids most induced angiogenesis while the other two cancer types suppressed it. Utilization of the proposed co-culture platform will help the researchers unveil the underlying mechanisms of the dynamic interplay between tumor and angiogenesis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 2021

River and stream are the important water supply source in our lives. Eutrophication causes excessive green algae growth including microcystis, which makes harmful to ecosystem and human health. Therefore, the water purification process to remove green algae is essential. In Korea, green algae alarm system exists depending on the concentration of green algae cells in river or stream. To maintain the growth amount under control, green algae monitoring system is being used. However, the unmanned, small and automatic monitoring system would be preferable. In this study, we developed the 3D printed device to measure the concentration of green algae cell using microfluidic droplet generator and deep learning. Deep learning network was trained by using transfer learning through pre-trained deep learning network. This newly developed microfluidic cell counter has sufficient accuracy to be possibly applicable to green algae alarm system.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.357-362
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• 2011

This paper demonstrates a novel electrodynamic technique to remove particles from the wall of microchannels. Dielectrohporesis(DEP) is generated by applying alternating electric potentials to the interdigitated electrodes integrated at the bottom of the micro-channel. The proposed technique is applied to a general microfluidic channel as a feasibility test. To examine the wall loss reduction efficiency, 10 ${\mu}m$ diameter Polystyrene latexes(PSL) were supplied to the inlet of the device. Then, the concentration of collected particles through devices was measured. In the experiment for 10 ${\mu}m$ diameter PSL particles, the concentration of the injected particles was $174.25{\times}10^4$ particles/ml. However, the concentration of collected particles at the outlet was $52.25{\times}10^4$ particles/ml. Only 30 % of particles had arrived at the outlet and 70 % of particles had adhered to the wall of the microfluidic channel. By applying alternating electric potentials from 0 to 20 $V_{pp}$ at 3 MHz, the concentration of injected particles was 135.00${\times}10^4$ particles/ml, the concentration of collected particles was increased as $105.25{\times}10^4$ particles/ml at 20 $V_{pp}$ at the outlet. When the electric potential was 20 $V_{pp}$, the particle loss was decreased by 39 % (initial loss: 70 %, loss at 20 Vpp: 31 %) with 10 ${\mu}m$ particle. The particle loss was decreased along to the incensement of electric potentials and the enlargement of the diameter of particles. According to these measured results, it was confirmed that the proposal of using DEP technique could be a good candidate for particle loss reduction in micro-particle processing chip application. Moreover, it is expected that the proposed technique could enhance performance of microfluidic and biochip devices.