Numeric Simulation of Heat Transfer and Electrokinetic Flow in an Electroosmosis-Based Continuous Flow PCR Chip

• Published in: Analytical chemistry (Washington) Vol. 78; no. 17; pp. 6215 - 6222
• Main Authors: Gui, Lin, Ren, Carolyn L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01.09.2006
• Subjects: Analytical chemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Computer Simulation; Conductivity; Electric fields; Electroosmosis - methods; Fluid dynamics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic engineering; Genetic technics; Heat transfer; Hot Temperature; In vitro gene amplification. Pcr technique; Kinetics; Mathematical models; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - instrumentation; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - methods; Osmosis; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Temperature; Performance evaluation; Temperature distribution; Electrokinetics; System on a chip; Velocity distribution; Convection; Thickness; Polymerase chain reaction; Simulation; DNA; Electroosmosis; Flow velocity; Temperature control; Continuous flow method; Microfluidics; Heat transfer
• ISSN: 0003-2700; 1520-6882
• DOI: 10.1021/ac060553d

Precise design and operational control of the polymerase chain reaction process is key to the performance of on-chip DNA analysis. This research is dedicated to understanding the fluid flow and heat transfer mechanisms occurring in continuous flow PCR chips from the engineering point of view. In this work, a 3-dimensional model was developed to simulate the electrical potential field, the flow field, and the temperature field in an electroosmosis-based continuous flow PCR chip. On the basis of the simultaneous solution to this model, the effects of the channel/chip size, the chip material, and the applied voltage difference on the temperature distribution and control are discussed in detail. The importance of each heat transfer mechanism for different situations is also discussed. It was found that if a larger chip thickness or a material with a lower heat conductivity was used, the temperature in the microfluidic PCR chip would decrease dramatically. The effects of the applied electrical field strength and flow velocity on the temperature distribution, however, are negligible for microchannels with a small cross-sectional area. With bigger channels, the flow direction will affect the temperature distribution in the channel because heat convection will dominate heat transfer.