Ernits Mart, Reinsalu Olavi, Kyritsakis Andreas, Linko Veikko, Zadin Veronika
Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Nooruse 1, 50411 Tartu, Estonia.
Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, Aalto University School of Chemical Engineering, Kemistintie 1, 02150 Espoo, Finland.
Biosensors (Basel). 2025 Mar 2;15(3):154. doi: 10.3390/bios15030154.
Microfluidics is a technology that manipulates liquids on the scales ranging from microliters to femtoliters. Such low volumes require precise control over pressures that drive their flow into the microfluidic chips. This article describes a custom-built pressure controller for driving microfluidic chips. The pressure controller features piezoelectrically controlled pressure regulation valves. As an open-source system, it offers high customizability and allows users to modify almost every aspect. The cost is roughly a third of what similar, alternative, commercially available piezoelectrically controlled pressure regulators could be purchased for. The measured output pressure values of the device vary less than 0.7% from the device's reported pressure values when the requested pressure is between -380 and 380 mbar. Importantly, the output pressure the device creates fluctuates only ±0.2 mbar when the pressure is cycled between 10 and 500 mbar. The pressure reading accuracy and stability validation suggest that the device is highly feasible for many advanced (low-pressure) microfluidic applications. Here, we compare the main features of our device to commercially and non-commercially available alternatives and further demonstrate the device's performance and accessibility in successful microfluidic hydrodynamic focusing (MHF)-based synthesis of large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs).
微流控技术是一种在从微升至飞升的尺度上操控液体的技术。如此低的体积需要对驱动液体流入微流控芯片的压力进行精确控制。本文介绍了一种用于驱动微流控芯片的定制压力控制器。该压力控制器具有压电控制的压力调节阀。作为一个开源系统，它具有高度的可定制性，允许用户修改几乎每个方面。其成本大约是购买类似的、可供选择的市售压电控制压力调节器成本的三分之一。当请求压力在-380至380毫巴之间时，该设备测得的输出压力值与设备报告的压力值的偏差小于0.7%。重要的是，当压力在10至500毫巴之间循环时，该设备产生的输出压力仅波动±0.2毫巴。压力读数准确性和稳定性验证表明，该设备对于许多先进的（低压）微流控应用来说是高度可行的。在这里，我们将我们设备的主要特性与市售和非市售的替代品进行比较，并进一步展示该设备在基于微流控流体动力聚焦（MHF）的大型单层囊泡（LUV）成功合成中的性能和易用性。
