Steady streaming particle traps

Abstract

A microfluidic fluid flow system (100) is disclosed having a fluid chamber or channel (150) with inlet and outlet ports (104, 106), allowing the fluid channel to be filled with a fluid. One or more flow obstructions or perturbances, such as cylinders (152), are provided in the channel. An oscillatory boundary condition is applied, for example, with a piezoelectric driver (130), that is selected to induce a conservative, low-intensity steady streaming flow in the channel. The low-intensity streaming flow produces distinct eddies that can be utilized, for example, for fluid-dynamically trapping or retaining particles (90) such as cells (92) at well defined locations in the channel. The system may be used to trap and study individual cells or for concentrating or filtering particles in a fluid.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.