Development of dielectric coated alternating current electrothermal micropumps for biomicrofluidic applications

Lijnse, Thomas; Cenaiko, Stirling; Dalton, Colin

doi:10.1117/12.2576942

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…First, the Electrical Circuits and Electric Currents modules are discussed, as they are largely intertwined. Previous work has used the electric currents module alone to simulate ACET flow [28]. Here, the Electrical Circuits module is used to build a circuit for the AC voltage to be applied to the narrow electrodes.…”

Section: Propertymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiphase Actuation of AC Electrothermal Micropump

2023

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Electrothermal micropumps apply an AC electric field to a conductive fluid within the range of 10 kHz–1 MHz to generate fluid flow. In this frequency range, coulombic forces dominate fluid interactions over opposing dielectric forces, resulting in high flow rates (~50–100 μm/s). To date, the electrothermal effect—using asymmetrical electrodes—has been tested only with single-phase and 2-phase actuation, while dielectrophoretic micropumps have shown improved flow rates with 3- and 4-phase actuation. Simulating muti-phase signals in COMSOL Multiphysics requires additional modules and a more involved implementation to accurately represent the electrothermal effect in a micropump. Here, we report detailed simulations of the electrothermal effect under multi-phase conditions, including single-phase, 2-phase, 3-phase and 4-phase actuation patterns. These computational models indicate that 2-phase actuation leads to the highest flow rate, with 3-phase resulting in a 5% reduced flow rate and 4-phase resulting in an 11% reduced flow rate compared to 2-phase. With these modifications to the simulation, various actuation patterns can later be tested in COMSOL for a range of electrokinetic techniques.

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Section: Propertymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once the model and mesh are built in the simulation, the frequency-stationary solver is chosen and run at an angular frequency of (2π)100 kHz, which is a typical frequency used in ACET devices [27][28][29].…”

Section: Property Symbol Valuementioning

confidence: 99%