Design and simulation of double lumen polymeric microneedles for blood transport

Blood extraction and insertion is a common process in daily life at hospitals. Hypodermic needles are mostly used for blood transport. These needles are associated with many disadvantages like pain induction due to longer length and no biocompatibility because of material used. In this paper, a novel design and simulation of double lumen polymeric microneedles for blood extraction and insertion have been presented. Using finite element software ANSYS, structural and fluidic analysis have been conducted to prophesy the mechanical strength of microneedles and fluid flow rate through the lumen regions. The effect of pressure and bending force on the tip of microneedle is investigated in structural analysis. Simulation results envisage that the resultant stress values due to applied loads are in the safe range. Fluidic analysis shows that the proposed design is suitable for blood extraction because different lumens radii are useful to avoid the clogging effect. Hot emboss and laser ablation techniques have been proposed for fabrication of double lumen out-of-plane polymeric microneedles.