Microblower-based microfluidic pump

This paper reports on a highly economical and accessible microfluidic pump using a piezoelectric air microblower for the controlled pumping of small-volume fluids into microfluidic chips. The present pump exerts high-accuracy control over the driving pressure to deliver fluids into and flexibly alter their flow rate inside microfluidic channels with a fast response at the millisecond scale and high pumping pressure stability. We have demonstrated the applications of this pump to shift the fluidic interface between laminar flows across a microfluidic channel, produce microdroplets with controllable sizes and chemical ingredients, and generate a discrete concentration gradient when incorporating a microfluidic concentration generator. Owing to its easy assembly and low cost, the microfluidic pump can provide a highly accessible and inexpensive solution to pumping and manipulating liquids in microfluidic devices for many chemical and biological studies, and will be particularly suitable for applications requiring full system integration and flow rate control automation within a limited space and financial budget. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

本文报道了一种非常经济且易于获取的微流控泵，它使用压电式空气微型吹风机来控制将小体积流体泵入微流控芯片。本泵对驱动压力进行高精度控制，以便将流体输送入微流控通道，并灵活改变其在通道内的流速，具有毫秒级的快速响应和较高的泵压稳定性。我们已经展示了该泵在以下方面的应用：移动微流控通道中层流之间的流体界面，产生具有可控尺寸和化学成分的微滴，以及在结合微流控浓度发生器时产生离散的浓度梯度。由于其易于组装且成本低廉，这种微流控泵可为许多化学和生物学研究中的微流控设备提供一种极易获取且廉价的泵送和操控液体的解决方案，并且将特别适用于在有限空间和资金预算内需要全系统集成和流速控制自动化的应用。（C）2016爱思唯尔有限公司。保留所有权利。