Gravity-driven apparatus and method for control of microfluidic devices

Abstract

A gravity-driven apparatus and method for controlling the flow order of reactants in microfluidic devices are provided, which are employed in a microfluidic chip. The gravity-driven apparatus flow order control mainly comprises a plurality of reactant chambers arranged in a stepwise pattern, a plurality of separate microchannels, and a reaction chamber having a winding converged microchannel. Each said reactant chamber has an air vent channel. Each pair of neighboring separate microchannels has a U-shaped structure connecting the pair of neighboring separate microchannels. To activate the microfluidic chip, the microfluidic chip is placed in a declining or standing position and the air vents are unsealed. This invention enhances the reliability of flow order control for multiple reactants. It can be built in a microfluidic chip, and needs not use any activate power or element. Therefore, it is low in energy-consumption, low in manufacturing cost and free-of-pollution.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.