• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.311-317
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• 2009

Due to extremely small device size and velocity scale, mixing in microchannel take place very slowly by way of molecular diffusion transport. Mixing enhancement becomes a central issue in microfluidics for biomedical and chemical applications. In this work, The optimization results and validation through experiment and fabrication. In this efficient micromixer design, it is essential to evaluate mixing efficiency with good precision. Mixing efficiency for Y-channel micromixer is measured by fluorescence intensity using LIF(Laser Induced Fluorescence) Confocal Microscope. The Y-channel micromixers are fabricated with polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS). Nile Blue A is injected into the micromixer as a fluorescence dye for measuring of fluorescence intensity by He/Ne laser. Throughout the experiments and computer simulation, accurate mixing efficiency evaluation process for a PDMS Y-channel micromixer is established.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.291-296
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• 2005

In this paper, the PDMS based micromixer having 3-dimension triangular structure has been developed for the reaction of samples in the micro volume. The mixing efficiency was measured according to the change of Reynolds number (Re: 0.08, 0.8, 8, 16) and channel height (100, 200, $300{\mu}m$). Total length of mixing region is 7.4 mm and the measured mixing efficiencies at the outlet were over 85 %. Within the mixing length 2.4 mm, the mixing efficiencies were more than 70 % at any Reynolds numbers, and this indicates the strong mixing has occurred inside the mixing channel due the triangular structures. By employing these 2 mixers, we have fabricated the microreactor to detect the glucose-catalysts reaction. The microreactor showed good reactivity of glucose and enzymes with the small amount of sample solution.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.385-390
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• 2011

In this study, we developed a micromixer based on the non-equilibrium electrokinetics at the junction of a microchannel and nanochannel. Two fluid streams were mixed by an electro-osmotic flow and a vortex flow created as a result of the non-equilibrium electrokinetics at the junction of the microchannel and nanochannel. Initially, the microchannel was fabricated using Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) by the general soft lithography process and the nanochannel was created at a specific position on the microchannel by applying a high voltage. To evaluate the mixing performance of the micromixer, fluorescent distribution was analyzed by using the fluorescent dye, Rhodamine B. About 90% mixing was achieved with this novel micromixer, and this micromixer can be used in microsystems for biochemical sample analysis.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.78.2-78.2
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.52.1-52.1
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.243-244
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• 2013

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 2004

It is of great interest to enhance mixing performance in a microchannel in which the flow is usually characterized as a low Reynolds number (Re) so that good mixing is quite difficult to be achieved in this laminar flow regime. In this regard, we present a new chaotic passive micromixer, named Barrier Embedded Micromixer (BEM), of which the mixing mechanism is based on chaotic flows. In BEM, chaotic flow is induced by periodic perturbation of the velocity field due to periodically inserted barriers along the channel wall while a helical type of flow is obtained by slanted grooves on the bottom surface of the channel in the pressure driven flow. To experimentally compare the mixing performance, a T-microchannel and a microchannel with only slanted grooves were also fabricated. All microchannels were made of PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) from SU-8 masters that were fabricated by conventional photolithography. Mixing performance was experimentally characterized with respect to an average mixing intensity by means of color change of phenolphthalein as pH indicator. It was found that mixing efficiency decreases as Re increases for all three micromixers. Experimental results obviously indicate that BEM has better mixing performance than the other two. Chaotic mixing mechanism, suggested in this study, can be easily applied to integrated microfluidic systems , such as Micro-Total-Analysis-System, Lab-on-a-chip and so on.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.910-914
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• 2007

We present a simple and an inexpensive method for the fabrication of a nano-fluidic filter and a nano-pore micromixer using self-assembly of nano-spheres and surface tension. Colloid-plug was formed by surface tension of liquid in a microchannel to fabricate nanofluidic filter. When colloid is evaporated, nano-spheres in a colloid are orderly stacked by a capillary force. Orderly stacked nano-spheres form 3-D nano-mesh which can be used as a mesh structure of a fluidic filter. We used silica nano-sphere whose diameter is $567{\pm}85nm$, and silicon micro-channel of $50{\mu}m$-diameter. Fabricated nano-fluidic filter in a micro-channel has median pore diameter of 158nm which was in agreement with expected diameter of the nano-pore of $128{\pm}19nm$. A nano-pore micromixer consists of $200\;{\mu}m-wide,\;100\;{\mu}m-deep$ micro-channel and self-assembled nano-spheres. In the nano-pore micromixer, two different fluids had no sooner met together than two fluids begin to mix at wide region. From the experimental study, we completely apply self-assembly of nano-spheres to nano-fluidic devices.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.10 s.241
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• pp.1298-1306
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• 2005

In this paper, Part II, we realized the Serpentine Laminating Micromirer (SLM) which was proposed in the accompanying paper, Part I, by means of the injection molding process in mass production. In the SLM, the higher level of chaotic mixing can be achieved by combining two general chaotic mixing mechanisms of splitting/recombination and chaotic advection by the successive arrangement of 'F'-shape mixing units in two layers. Mold inserts for the injection molding process of the SLM were fabricated by SU-8 photolithography and nickel electroplating. The SLM was realized by injection molding of COC (cyclic olefin copolymer) with the fabricated mold inserts and thermal bonding of two injection molded COC substrates. To compare the mixing performance, a T-type micromixer was also fabricated. Mixing performances of micromixers were experimentally characterized in terms of an average mixing color intensity of a pH indicator, phenolphthalein. Experimental results show that the SLM has much better mixing performance than the I-type micromixer and chaotic mixing was successfully achieved from the SLM over the wide range of Reynolds number (Re). The chaotic micromixer, SLM proposed in this study, could be easily integrated in Micro-Total-Analysis- System , Lab-on-a-Chip and so on.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.86-92
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• 2004

In this paper miniaturized disposable micro/nanofluidic components applicable to bio chip, chemical analyzer and biomedical monitoring system, such as blood analysis, micro dosing system and cell experiment, etc are reported. This system includes various microfluidic components including a micropump, micromixer, DNA purification chip and single-cell assay chip. For low voltage and low power operation, a surface tension-driven micropump is presented, as well as a micromixer, which was implemented using MEMS technology, for efficient liquid mixing is also introduced. As bio-reactors, DNA purification and single-cell assay devices, for the extraction of pure DNA from liquid mixture or blood and for cellular engineering or high-throughput screening, respectively, are presented.