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US 2017/0254318 A1Published application
Vacuum battery system for portable microfluidic pumping
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsLuke P. Lee, Erh-Chia Yeh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fluidic chip employing a vacuum void to store vacuum potential for controlled micro-fluidic pumping in conjunction with biomimetic vacuum lungs.
Claims32
A system for portable fluidic pumping, the system comprising:
- a chip;
- a void disposed within the chip;
- the void comprising a volume configured to store a vacuum upon subjecting the chip to a vacuum state;
- a vacuum channel coupled to and in communication with the void;
- a fluid channel disposed adjacent to the vacuum channel such that a thin gas-permeable wall of material is disposed between the fluid channel and the vacuum channel;
- wherein the fluid channel and vacuum channel are not physically connected to each other;
- and
- a containment for maintaining the chip in said vacuum state;
- wherein upon release of the chip from the vacuum state in the containment, the stored vacuum within the void passively draws air across the thin gas-permeable wall into the void to advance a fluid sample into the fluid channel.
6 more elements
A method for portable fluidic pumping on a chip, the system comprising:
- providing a chip comprising a void, a vacuum channel and a fluid channel disposed within the chip, wherein the vacuum channel is coupled to and in communication with the void and the fluid channel is disposed adjacent to the vacuum channel such that a thin gas-permeable wall of material is disposed between the fluid channel and the vacuum channel;
- applying a vacuum to the chip to charge the chip to store a vacuum within the void;
- storing the chip to maintain the vacuum;
- discharging the chip from the vacuum;
- applying a fluid sample at a location on the chip;
- and
- as a result of the stored vacuum within the void, passively drawing air across the thin gas-permeable wall into the void to advance the fluid sample into the fluid channel.
4 more elements
A portable device for pumping a fluid sample, comprising:
- a chip comprising a plurality of vacuum channels and a plurality of fluid channels;
- a vacuum battery void disposed within the chip;
- the vacuum battery void comprising a volume configured to store a vacuum upon subjecting the chip to a vacuum state;
- wherein the plurality of vacuum channels are adjacent with the plurality of fluid channels to form a vacuum lung of thin gas-permeable walls disposed between the plurality of vacuum channels and plurality of fluid channels;
- wherein the plurality of vacuum channels are coupled to and in communication with the vacuum battery void;
- wherein the plurality of vacuum channels and plurality of spaced apart fluid channels are not physically connected to each other;
- and
- wherein upon release of the chip from the vacuum state, the stored vacuum within the vacuum battery void passively draws air across the thin gas-permeable walls into the vacuum battery void to advance the fluid sample into the plurality of spaced apart fluid channels.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.