Conchouso D, Castro D, Khan S A, Foulds I G
Electromechanical Microsystems and Polymer Integration Research Laboratory (EMPIRe Lab) at the Computer, Electrical, and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, 4700 KAUST, 23955 Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Lab Chip. 2014 Aug 21;14(16):3011-20. doi: 10.1039/c4lc00379a.
This paper looks at the design, fabrication and characterization of stackable microfluidic emulsion generators, with coefficients of variation as low as ~6% and with production rates as high as ~1 L h(-1). This work reports the highest throughput reported in the literature for a microfluidic device with simultaneous operation of liquid-liquid droplet generators. The device was achieved by stacking several layers of 128 flow-focusing droplet generators, organized in a circular array. These layers are interconnected via through-holes and fed with designated fractal distribution networks. The proposed layers were milled on poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) sheets and the stack was thermo-compression bonded to create a three-dimensional device with a high density of generators and an integrated hydraulic manifold. The effect of stacking multiple layers was studied and the results show that fabrication accuracy has a greater impact on the dispersity of the emulsion than the addition of more layers to the stack. Particle crystallization of drugs was also demonstrated as a possible application of this technology in industry.
本文研究了可堆叠微流控乳液发生器的设计、制造和特性，其变异系数低至约6%，生产率高达约1 L h⁻¹。这项工作报道了文献中关于液-液滴发生器同时运行的微流控装置的最高通量。该装置是通过堆叠几层以圆形阵列排列的128个流动聚焦液滴发生器实现的。这些层通过通孔相互连接，并由指定的分形分布网络进料。所提出的层在聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（PMMA）片材上进行铣削加工，然后将堆叠结构进行热压键合，以创建一个具有高密度发生器和集成液压歧管的三维装置。研究了堆叠多层的效果，结果表明，制造精度对乳液的分散性影响比增加堆叠层数更大。药物的颗粒结晶也被证明是该技术在工业中的一种可能应用。
