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Microfluidic diffusion diluter: bulging of PDMS microchannels under pressure-driven flow*

Matthew A Holden1, Saurabh Kumar2, Ali Beskok2 and Paul S Cremer1

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The bulging of microfluidic systems during pressure-driven flow is potentially a major consideration for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based devices. Microchannel cross-sectional areas can change drastically as a function of flow rate and downstream microchannel position. Such geometrical flexibility leads to difficulties in predicting convective/diffusive transport for these systems. We have previously introduced a non-dimensional parameter, κ, for characterizing convection and diffusion behavior for pressure-driven flow in rigid all-glass systems. This paper describes a modification of that concept for application to non-rigid systems, which is accomplished by incorporating an experimental step to account for the bulging in PDMS/glass microsystems. Specifically, an experimental measurement of channel height by fluorescence microscopy is combined with the aforementioned theory to characterize convective/diffusive behavior at a single location in the device. This allowed the parameter κ to be determined at that point and applied to predict fluid flow in the subsequent portion of the PDMS microsystem. This procedure was applied to a PDMS/glass microfluidic diffusion dilution (μDD) device designed for generating concentration gradients. Theoretically predicted and experimentally measured distributions of concentrations within the microsystem matched well.


PACS

85.85.+j Micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) and devices

47.85.Np Fluidics

47.60.-i Flow phenomena in quasi-one-dimensional systems

Subjects

Fluid dynamics

Electronics and devices

Nanoscale science and low-D systems

Dates

Issue 3 (May 2003)

Received 8 October 2002, in final form 28 January 2003

Published 18 March 2003



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