Liquid-electronic hybrid divider

A hybrid divider comprising;

• a channel capable of conveying carrier fluid and droplets;
• a plurality of voltage adjustable input terminals substitutable by electronic circuit(s);
• an electronic component or channel comprising a plurality of electrodes operable with the carrier fluid in the channel, the electronic component or channel comprising an impedance selected from the group consisting of resistor, inductance and capacitor;
• an output signal circuit;
• a controlling component or feedback component having a first end connected to the output signal circuit, and a second end connected to a controllable device selected from the group consisting of a pump and a valve;
• and
• a first conductor electrically connecting one of the electrodes with the impedance,
• wherein at least two of the electrodes form opposing electrodes about the carrier fluid in the channel,
• wherein the output signal circuit is a Vout controlling system that may be applied to control other components,
• wherein the output signal circuit can be connected to an input of additional hybrid dividers to control the subsequent additional divider unit(s), and
• wherein an output signal from the output signal circuit can be applied as the input of the controlling component and the feedback component.

An apparatus comprising:

• one or more hybrid dividers comprising:
• a channel capable of conveying carrier fluid and droplets;
• a plurality of voltage adjustable input terminals substitutable by electronic circuit(s);
• an electronic component or channel comprising a plurality of electrodes operable with the carrier fluid in the channel, the electronic component or channel comprising an impedance selected from the group consisting of resistor, inductance and capacitor;
• an output signal circuit;
• a controlling component or feedback component having a first end connected to the output signal circuit, and a second end connected to a controllable device selected from the group consisting of a pump and a valve;
• the one or more hybrid dividers is configured to act as a hybrid copier, hybrid computer, encoder, decoder, multiplexer, or other logic device;
• and
• a first conductor electrically connecting one of the electrodes with the impedance,
• wherein at least two of the electrodes form opposing electrodes about the carrier fluid in the channel,
• wherein the hybrid copier comprises a hybrid divider connected to several droplet generation systems, and
• wherein when the droplet in the hybrid divider is present between two electrodes, the output signal can control the generation system to generate droplets.

An apparatus comprising:

• one or more hybrid dividers comprising:
• a channel capable of conveying carrier fluid and droplets;
• a plurality of voltage adjustable input terminals substitutable by electronic circuit(s);
• an electronic component or channel comprising a plurality of electrodes operable with the carrier fluid in the channel, the electronic component or channel comprising an impedance selected from the group consisting of resistor, inductance and capacitor;
• an output signal circuit;
• a controlling component or feedback component having a first end connected to the output signal circuit, and a second end connected to a controllable device selected from the group consisting of a pump and a valve;
• the one or more hybrid dividers is configured to act as a hybrid copier, hybrid computer, encoder, decoder, multiplexer, or other logic device;
• and
• a first conductor electrically connecting one of the electrodes with the impedance,
• wherein at least two of the electrodes form opposing electrodes about the carrier fluid in the channel,
• wherein the encoder converts fluid information from one format to another,
• wherein the decoder performs the reverse functions of an encoder, and
• wherein the logic gates comprise two XOR gates for a 4-to-2 line encoder;
• one NOR gate, one B-\->A gate, one A-\->B gate, and a AND gate for a 2-to-4 line decoder;
• and
• one OR gate, one B.fwdarw.A gate, one A.fwdarw.B gate, and a NAND gate for a 2-to-4 line invert decoder.

A hybrid rheostat/divider comprising:

• a channel capable of conveying carrier fluid and droplets;
• a plurality of voltage adjustable input terminals substitutable by electronic circuit(s);
• an electronic component or channel comprising a plurality of electrodes operable with the carrier fluid in the channel, the electronic component or channel comprising an impedance selected from the group consisting of resistor, inductance and capacitor;
• an output signal circuit;
• a controlling component or feedback component having a first end connected to the output signal circuit, and a second end connected to a controllable device selected from the group consisting of a pump and a valve;
• a first conductor electrically connecting one of the electrodes with the impedance;
• and
• a plurality of information input/output, including digital information 0 and 1, chemical components, volume of the droplet, kinetics of fluid flow, concentration of a certain chemical, color of the fluid, optical properties of the fluid, and the temperature of the fluid,
• wherein at least two of the electrodes form opposing electrodes about the carrier fluid in the channel.