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US 2011/0209998 A1Published application
Droplet Actuator and Methods
AssigneeAdvanced Liquid Logic, Inc.
InventorAlexander David Shenderov
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A series of microactuators for manipulating small quantities of liquids, and methods of using these for manipulating liquids, are disclosed. The microactuators are based on the phenomenon of electrowetting and contain no moving parts. The force acting on the liquid is a potential-dependent gradient of adhesion energy between the liquid and a solid insulating surface.
Claims52
1-52. (canceled)
A device comprising:
- (a) two surfaces separated to form a gap;
- (b) a two-dimensional array and/or linear path of electrodes positioned to project an electric field across the gap;
- and
- (c) one or more electrodes exposed to the gap and not coated with an insulator material.
1 more element
A device comprising:
- (a) two surfaces separated to form a gap;
- (b) a two-dimensional array and/or linear path of electrodes positioned on one of the surfaces and coated with an insulator material;
- and
- (c) one or more electrodes exposed to the gap and not coated with an insulator material.
1 more element
A method of forming a droplet, the method comprising:
- (a) overlapping a droplet with a charged group of electrodes;
- and
- (b) removing a potential from an intermediate electrode of the charged group of electrodes to separate the droplet into separate bodies.
A method of dispensing a droplet, the method comprising:
- (a) providing substrate comprising a hydrophilic contact pad adjacent to a cutoff electrode adjacent to a control electrode;
- (b) providing a liquid on the control pad;
- (c) applying a wetting potential to the control pad, the cutoff electrode and the control electrode to spread the liquid over the control pad, the cutoff electrode and the control electrode;
- and
- (d) removing the wetting potential from the cutoff electrode to yield a droplet on the control electrode.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.