A Novel Acoustic Wave Micromixer
| Category: Engineering and Physical Sciences |
Reference Number: 00236 |
Description
Click on the image for a 2.2MB video clip in Microsoft AVI format.
The acoustic wave “micromixer” is based on micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology that uses acoustic energy to mix and/or transport accurately controlled amounts of fluid in a reasonable amount of time. The micromixer uses a novel Fresnel Annular Sector Actuator which produces a strong lateral acoustic potential at its focal plane. This causes high lateral fluid motion, which is ideal for mixing very small amounts of liquids over relatively large areas. Various designs for micromixers have been developed, including some that use time phasing of various sectors of the device to achieve desired mixing rates.
"Novel Acoustic Wave Micromixer" [PDF - 1.42MB]
Applications
- Liquid mixing fluids in a DNA sequencing chips
- Mass Transport in bio-assay chips or “lab on a chip”
- Non-invasive mixing
- Gas and fluid measurement
- Medical testing (e.g., glucose sensing)
- Microfluidic electrophoresis
- Microflow cytometry
- Implantable drug pumping
- Mass spectroscopy
- Microflow regulation
- Inkjet printing
- Forensic analysis
Main Advantages
- Very simple fabrication, and low manufacturing cost
- No heating effect (can be used for temperature sensitive fluids such as DNA sample)
- Non-intrusive mixing
- Can handle extremely small volume of fluid sample (reduces assay cost)
- Consumes very low power
- Can achieve zero dead volume mixing
- Inherently fast
Inventor(s)
Dr. Eun Sok Kim
Mr. Vihbu Vivek
Mr. Yi Zeng
Electrical Engineering
Contact Information
For licensing information, please contact Andrea Yuen at
ayuen@hawaii.edu
For all other inquiries, please write to:
Office of Technology Transfer & Economic Development
University of Hawai’i
2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 280
Honolulu, HI 96822