An analytic model of microfluidic system triggered by thermal expansion.

Microfluidics shows a great importance in fluid control in biomedicine area. Recently, a programmable soft microfluidic system for applications of pharmacology and optogenetics is reported in Cell. Based on the theory of thermal expansion, we established an analytic model to characterize the injection process of the microfluidic systems. Finite element analyses (FEA) were employed to validate this model. The comparison between the analytic model and FEA well demonstrates the practicality of the analytic model. We also make a parametric analysis of sphere radius, central angle and expandable layer thickness on the infusion volume of the system to optimize the design.