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US 7,943,030 B2Granted
Actuators for microfluidics without moving parts
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.
Claims50
A device comprising:
- (a) a first surface and a second surface separated from one another to form a gap between the first and second surfaces;
- (b) a plurality of electrodes mounted on the first and second surfaces and facing the gap, wherein the plurality of electrodes comprises a single electrode on one of the surfaces;
- (c) an insulator separating at least a subset of the electrodes from the gap;
- and
- (d) a drop meter comprising a contact pad, a cutoff electrode, and a control electrode, wherein the contact pad is adjacent to the cutoff electrode, and the cutoff electrode is adjacent to the control electrode.
2 more elements
A device comprising:
- (a) a first surface and a second surface separated from one another to form a gap between the first and second surfaces, wherein the gap comprises a filler fluid;
- (b) a plurality of electrodes mounted on the first and second surfaces and facing the gap;
- (c) an insulator separating at least a subset of the electrodes from the gap, wherein the insulator comprises a hydrophobic surface;
- and
- (d) a drop meter comprising a contact pad, a cutoff electrode, and a control electrode, wherein the contact pad is adjacent to the cutoff electrode, and the cutoff electrode is adjacent to the control electrode;
- wherein the filler fluid comprises an immiscible droplet therein adjacent to an electrode, and the immiscible droplet has a contact angle relative to the surface comprising the electrode, which contact angle is increased relative to the contact angle of the immiscible droplet in the presence of an electric potential.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.