Microfluidic pumping based on dielectrophoresis
AssigneePurdue Research Foundation
InventorsDong Liu, Suresh V. Garimella
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This paper presents a microfluidic pumping approach using traveling-wave dielectrophoresis (tw-DEP) of microparticles. Flow is generated directly in the microfluidic devices by inducing electromechanical effects in the fluid using microelectrodes. The fluidic driving mechanisms due to the particle-fluid and particle-particle interactions under twDEP are analyzed, and the induced flow field is obtained from numerical simulations. Experimental measurements of the flow velocity in a prototype DEP micropumping device show satisfactory agreement with the numerical predications.
Claims6
-10. (canceled)
A method for inducing flow in a fluid, comprising:
- providing a source of a first electric field alternating at a frequency selectable within a range of frequencies and a second electric field alternating at the frequency and being temporally spaced from the first electric field by a phase angle, a fluid flowpath in electrical communication with the first electric field and second electric field, a fluid media having a complex media permittivity ∈m, and a plurality of particles having a complex particle permittivity ∈p;
- placing the fluid and the particles in a colloidal suspension within the flowpath;
- selecting the frequency such that:
- Re[fCM] is less than about zero, and
- Im[fCM] is less than about −0.02,
- wherein [fCM] is the Clausius-Mossotti factor:
- f
- ~
- CM
- =
- (
- ɛ
- ~
- p
- -
- ɛ
- ~
- m
- ɛ
- ~
- p
- +
- 2
-
- ɛ
- ~
- m
- )
- ;
- applying the first electric field at the frequency to the flowpath and the second electric field at the frequency to the flowpath;
- driving the particles to move in a direction by the action of the first and second electric fields;
- and
- inducing flow of the fluid media in the direction by viscous drag of the particles on the fluid media.
-17. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.