Device and Method for Flow and Bead Speed Characterization in Microfluidic Devices

• Main Authors: Temiz, Yuksel, Azpiroz, Jaione Tirapu, Delamarche, Emmanuel
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 27.09.2018
• Subjects: CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE; MEASURING; MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUIDLEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; PHYSICS; TESTING; TRANSPORTING

Method, apparatus, and computer program product for a microfluidic channel having a cover opposite its bottom, such that the cover allows visual inspection inside the channel, and having electrodes with patterned planar conducting materials, integrated onto its bottom. Using the planar conducting materials, once a fluid sample with suspended microparticles is applied into the channel, highly localized modulated electric field distributions are generated inside the channel and the fluid sample. This generated field causes the inducing of dielectrophoretic (DEP) forces in such a way that the DEP forces gradually increase along the length of the channel occupied by the electrodes. These DEP forces counteract the hydrodynamic drag of the flow acting on the particles suspended in the fluid. Because of the induced forces, micro/nano-particles in the fluid sample are deflected at locations in the microchannel that are a function of the particles velocity and this effect is captured by an image sensing device through the micro fluidic channel cover and stored in a computer memory device such that the location information is used to compute particle and flow speed. Microfluidic chips with microfluidic channels can be made using standard semiconductor manufacturing technology.