Microfluidic filtering
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsErik D. Torniainen, Nick McGuinness, David P. Markel, Alexander Govyadinov
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an example implementation, a method of microfluidic filtering includes activating a first fluid pump within a microfluidic channel to cause a forward flow of fluid through the microfluidic channel and through a filter of a filter loop. The filter loop intersects the microfluidic channel at a loop entry and at a loop exit. The method includes activating a second fluid pump to cause a reverse flow of fluid through the filter.
Claims15
A method of microfluidic filtering, comprising:
- activating a first fluid pump within a microfluidic channel to cause a forward flow of fluid through the microfluidic channel and through a filter of a filter loop, the filter loop intersecting the microfluidic channel at a loop entry and at a loop exit;
- and,
- activating a second fluid pump to cause a reverse flow of fluid through the filter.
A microfluidic filtering device comprising:
- a microfluidic channel to communicate fluid between a first reservoir and a second reservoir;
- a filter loop coupled to the microfluidic channel at a loop entry;
- a filter at the loop entry to filter fluid entering the filter loop from the microfluidic channel;
- a forward pump to pump fluid in a forward direction from the microfluidic channel through the filter into the filter loop;
- and,
- a reverse pump to pump fluid in a reverse direction opposite the forward direction to clean the filter.
A microfluidic filtering device comprising:
- a microfluidic channel to communicate fluid between a first reservoir and a second reservoir;
- multiple nested filter loops, wherein a first nested filter loop is in direct fluid communication with the microfluidic channel and every other nested filter loop is in indirect fluid communication with the microfluidic channel through another nested filter loop;
- a first fluid pump to induce fluid flow in a forward direction through the nested filter loops;
- a particle filter associated with each nested filter loop to filter particles from the fluid;
- and,
- a second fluid pump to induce fluid flow in a reverse direction through the nested filter loops to clean the particle filters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.