Passive flow-rate regulators using the parallel membrane valves rectifying dynamic inlet pressure

Author

Doh, Il ; Cho, Young-Ho

Author_Institution

Digital Nanolocomotion Center, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea

fYear

2009

fDate

21-25 June 2009

Firstpage

2278

Lastpage

2281

Abstract

We present passive flow-rate regulators using parallel membrane valves rectifying dynamic inlet pressure. The parallel membrane valves in the passive flow-rate regulator are designed to deflect and adjust the flow resistance according to the inlet pressure, thus maintaining a constant flow-rate independent of the inlet pressure variation. The prototype was fabricated by PolyDiMethylSiloxane (PDMS) micromolding process. In the experimental study, the dynamic inlet pressure in the range of 20 and 50 kPa was applied at the varying frequency of 1~80 Hz and the outlet flow-rate was measured. The prototype maintained as the constant flow-rate of 5.82plusmn0.29 mul/s at the dynamic inlet pressure. The present passive flow-rate regulator has shown the strong potential for the precise sample delivery in integrated microfluidic systems.

Keywords

flow sensors; flowmeters; microfluidics; moulding; pressure sensors; PolyDiMethylSiloxane; flow resistance; integrated microfluidic systems; micromolding process; parallel membrane valves; passive flow-rate regulators; pressure 20 kPa to 50 kPa; rectifying dynamic inlet pressure; Biomembranes; Fluid dynamics; Fluid flow control; Frequency; Microfluidics; Micropumps; Prototypes; Regulators; Resistors; Valves; Autonomous flow-rate control; Dynamic inlet pressure; Parallel membrane valve; Passive flow-rate regulator;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2009. TRANSDUCERS 2009. International

Conference_Location

Denver, CO

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4190-7

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-4193-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SENSOR.2009.5285890

Filename

5285890