Digital microfluidic apparatus and driving method therefor

A digital microfluidic apparatus, comprising a digital microfluidic chip, a thermal control apparatus and an elastic support apparatus;

• wherein the digital microfluidic chip is provided with a droplet channel, the droplet channel is configured for droplets to move therein;
• the thermal control apparatus is provided at a side of the digital microfluidic chip, and is configured to generate at least two thermal zones which are independent and non-interfering in the droplet channel and control temperatures of the thermal zones;
• the elastic support apparatus is provided on a side of the thermal control apparatus away from the digital microfluidic chip, and the elastic support apparatus is configured to drive the thermal control apparatus to be attached to a surface of the digital microfluidic chip,
• wherein the thermal control apparatus comprises a support body and at least two thermal control bodies;
• a side of the support body facing the digital microfluidic chip is provided with at least two grooves, the at least two thermal control bodies are provided respectively in the at least two grooves, each thermal control body comprises a heat source body and a heat transfer body which are stacked, the heat source body is provided in a groove and is configured to provide a heat source, and the heat transfer body is provided on a side of the heat source body close to the digital microfluidic chip and is configured to conduct heat of the heat source body;
• a sum of thicknesses of the heat source body and the heat transfer body is greater than a depth of the groove;
• the at least two thermal zones which are independent and non-interfering comprise a first thermal zone, a second thermal zone and a third thermal zone, the first thermal zone, the second thermal zone, and the third thermal zone are arranged in order of temperature increasing or decreasing;
• the digital microfluidic chip comprises multiple first electrodes which are disposed at positions corresponding to the droplet channel at intervals and are configured to drive a droplet to move within the droplet channel, M electrodes are arranged between a first electrode corresponding to a center point of the first thermal zone and a first electrode corresponding to a center point of the second thermal zone, and N electrodes are arranged between the first electrode corresponding to the center point of the second thermal zone and a first electrode corresponding to a center point of the third thermal zone, M, N each is 5 to 15.