Microfluidic array assembly and device

Abstract

The application belongs to the technical field of microfluidics, and particularly relates to a microfluid array assembly and device. The microfluid array assembly comprises a plurality of array-arranged micro-rotor units, each micro-rotor unit comprising at least one micro-rotor pair, each micro-rotor pair comprising a first gear and a second gear, and the partial gear teeth of the first gear and the partial gear teeth of the second gear are engaged to generate a local micro-flow field under the action of an external force. The local micro-flow field generates a flow field enhancement area and a flow field suppression area under the array arrangement of the micro-rotor pair. The difference in flow rate and direction of the formed flow field is used to adjust the driving of the fluid, and the flow field is easily encoded by the arrangement and movement rules of the micro-rotor units. Therefore, the design provided by the application is beneficial to increasing the adjustable performance of the flow field to improve the flexible, high-efficiency and high-precision control of large-area and / or large-volume fluid, and to customize the required flow field of the fluid as needed.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application belongs to the technical field of microfluidics, and particularly relates to a microfluidic array assembly and device. BACKGROUND

[0002] Microfluidic devices are technologies for manipulating, processing and analyzing micro-liter, nano-liter and sub-nano-liter fluid, the core of which is the manipulation of flow field, so as to realize functions such as micro-pump, micro-valve, micro-mixer, micro-reactor, particle transport and the like. Flexible generation and regulation of flow field is an important research content for microfluidic devices to realize complex and diversified functions. In recent years, a large number of flow field regulation strategies have been generated, such as electroosmotic flow driving, magnetic rotor driving, artificial flagellum driving and the like. However, the above driving methods usually make the fluid produce bidirectional motion in a large range in the micro-channel, and even if microstructures or physical fields are introduced or applied, the local area microflow field can still be regulated, but it is difficult to manipulate the fluid such as particles in a large area range. SUMMARY

[0003] The following is a summary of the subject matter of the detailed description of the present application, and this summary is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application.

[0004] The purpose of the embodiments of the present application is to provide a microfluidic array assembly, which comprises a plurality of groups of array-arranged micro-rotor units, the micro-rotor unit comprising at least one micro-rotor pair, the micro-rotor pair comprising a first gear and a second gear, and part of the teeth of the first gear is engaged with part of the teeth of the second gear.

[0005] The microfluidic array assembly has a flow field generated by the micro-rotor pair under the driving of an external force, and the flow field comprises a flow field enhancement region and a flow field suppression region.

[0006] The part of the teeth of the first gear is engaged with the part of the teeth of the second gear in the present application to generate a local microflow field under the driving of an external force, the local microflow field is coupled under the array arrangement of the micro-rotor pair to generate a flow field enhancement region and a flow field suppression region, the flow velocity, direction and the like of the flow field enhancement region and the flow field suppression region have differences, the driving of the fluid is adjusted by forming the differences of the flow velocity and direction of the flow field, and the flow field can be coded by the arrangement of the micro-rotor unit and the fluid motion law. Therefore, the design method provided by the present application is beneficial to increase the adjustable performance of the flow field to improve the flexible, high-efficiency and high-precision manipulation of the fluid in a large area and / or large volume, and to customize the required flow field of the fluid as needed.

[0007] In some embodiments, the microfluidic array assembly comprises a plurality of groups of array-arranged micro-rotor units in the horizontal and vertical directions, and the micro-rotor unit comprises one micro-rotor pair.

[0008] In some embodiments, the microfluidic array assembly includes a plurality of micro-rotor units arranged in a honeycomb array, and the micro-rotor units include two or more micro-rotor pairs.

[0009] In some embodiments, centers of the gears of the micro-rotor pairs of the micro-rotor unit are connected end to end to form a polygonal enclosed area.

[0010] In some embodiments, the enclosed area includes a micro-rotor pair shared by two adjacent groups of micro-rotor units.

[0011] In some embodiments, the microfluidic array assembly comprises one or more flow enhancement regions and one or more flow suppression regions.

[0012] In some embodiments, different array arrangements of the micro-rotor units of the microfluidic array assembly are used to generate flow fields with specific encodings.

[0013] In some embodiments, the first gear has magnetic field response capability, and the second gear does not have magnetic field response capability;

[0014] or;

[0015] The first gear does not have the ability to respond to a magnetic field, and the second gear has the ability to respond to a magnetic field;

[0016] Preferably, the provision of magnetic field response capability comprises adding magnetic material to a matrix of the first gear or the second gear.

[0017] In some embodiments, the magnetic material includes one or more of iron, nickel, cobalt, neodymium iron boron, and barium iron oxide.

[0018] The second aspect of the present application is to provide a microfluidic device comprising the microfluidic array assembly described in the first aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The accompanying drawings are used to provide an understanding of the technical solution of the present application and constitute a part of the specification. Together with the embodiments of the present application, they are used to explain the technical solution of the present application and do not constitute a limitation of the technical solution of the present application. In addition, the same reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to represent the same components.

[0020] In the attached figure:

[0021] FIG. 1A A schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a micro-rotor pair according to some embodiments of the present application is shown;

[0022] FIG. 1B Indicated FIG. 1A Equivalent simplified schematic diagram of ;

[0023] FIG. 2A A schematic diagram illustrating one effect of adjacent micro-rotor pairs on the flow field for some embodiments of the application;

[0024] FIG. 2B A schematic diagram illustrating another effect of adjacent micro-rotor pairs on the flow field for some embodiments of the application;

[0025] FIG. 3A A schematic diagram of a microfluidic array assembly for some embodiments of the application;

[0026] FIG. 3B A schematic diagram of a microfluidic array assembly for some embodiments of the application;

[0027] FIG. 4A A schematic diagram of a microfluidic array assembly for some embodiments of the application;

[0028] FIG. 4B A schematic diagram of a microfluidic array assembly for some embodiments of the application;

[0029] FIG. 4C A schematic diagram of a microfluidic array assembly for some embodiments of the application;

[0030] FIG. 4D A schematic diagram of a microfluidic array assembly for some embodiments of the application;

[0031] FIG. 4E A schematic diagram of a microfluidic array assembly for some embodiments of the application;

[0032] FIG. 4F A schematic diagram of a microfluidic array assembly for some embodiments of the application;

[0033] FIG. 5 A schematic diagram of a microfluidic array assembly for some embodiments of the application.

[0034] The various figures of the drawing herein each illustrate a preferred embodiment of the application, and together with the detailed description below, serve to explain the principles of the application.

[0035] 1. A microfluidic array assembly;

[0036] 10. A micro-rotor unit; 10a, a first micro-rotor unit; 10b, a second micro-rotor unit;

[0037] 100. A micro-rotor pair; 110, a first gear wheel; 120, a second gear wheel;

[0038] 111. A tooth; 121. A tooth;

[0039] A, an enclosure region;

[0040] I: flow field enhancement region; II: flow field suppression region

[0041] First direction: coordinate axis x direction

[0042] Second direction: coordinate axis y direction DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] In order to make the purposes, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, further description will be given below in conjunction with the drawings and specific embodiments. The embodiments of the present application can be implemented in a variety of different forms. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments and contents can be transformed into various forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Therefore, the present application should not be interpreted as being limited to the contents described in the following embodiments. The embodiments in the present application and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other arbitrarily without conflict.

[0044] In the drawings, various structural schematic diagrams according to the embodiments of the present application are shown. The drawing scale can be used as a reference in the actual process, but is not limited thereto.

[0045] In the context of the present application, when one layer / element is referred to as being located "on" another layer / element, the layer / element can be directly located on the other layer / element, or there can be an intermediate layer / element between them. In addition, if one layer / element is located "on" another layer / element in one orientation, it can be located "under" the other layer / element when the orientation is reversed.

[0046] In the description of the present application, ordinal numbers such as "first", "second", etc. are set in order to avoid confusion of constituent elements, and are not intended to be limited in terms of quantity.

[0047] In the present specification, in order to facilitate the description, the words indicating the orientation or positional relationship such as "middle", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc. are used to describe the positional relationship of the constituent elements with reference to the drawings, and are only for the purpose of description of the present specification and simplification of the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present application. The positional relationship of the constituent elements is appropriately changed according to the direction of describing each constituent element. Therefore, it is not limited to the words described in the specification, and can be appropriately changed according to the situation.

[0048] In this specification, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, the terms "set", "connected", "coupled", "affixed" and the like shall be construed expansively and in an inclusive sense. For example, "connected" can pertain to mechanical connection, electrical connection or the like; "affixed" can pertain to fixed attachment, detachable attachment, integral connection, or the like; and "coupled" can pertain to two members, either directly or through an intervening member, or the like. The specific meaning of these terms in the context of the present application will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0049] "A and / or B" includes the following two combinations: A alone, B alone, and the combination of A and B.

[0050] "A, B, and C at least one of" has the same meaning as "at least one of A, B, or C", and includes the following combinations of A, B, and C: A alone, B alone, C alone, the combination of A and B, the combination of A and C, the combination of B and C, and the combination of A, B, and C.

[0051] Exemplary embodiments are described herein with reference to cross-sectional and / or plan view illustrations that are idealized illustrations. In the drawings, the thickness of layers and regions are exaggerated for clarity. Accordingly, variations from the shapes of the illustrations as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniques and / or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, the exemplary embodiments should not be construed as limited to the precise shapes of regions illustrated herein but are to include deviations in shapes that result, for example, from manufacturing. Thus, the regions illustrated in the figures are schematic in nature and their shapes are not intended to illustrate the precise shape of a region that would be achieved in a device manufactured, for example, by photolithography and other microfabrication techniques.

[0052] Microfluidic technology has been widely used in the field of biology and medicine, providing support for the next generation of precision medicine and portable detection devices. Particle manipulation technology based on microfluidics can manipulate micron / nanometer-sized particles with micron precision, including particle enrichment, separation, transport, focusing, and patterning, to meet the needs of scientific research and clinical detection and treatment. Currently, microfluidic technology generally uses microchannel structure design to facilitate the use of channel confinement to simply achieve high-precision particle manipulation.

[0053] For example, existing methods use optical-electric tweezers technology to manipulate micrometer teeth or use optical tweezers to manipulate micrometer teeth to generate a flow field around the teeth and further manipulate particles. The advantage of optical tweezers or optical-electric tweezers technology is precise manipulation, and the rotor position and rotation can be independently adjusted in real time. However, the disadvantage of optical tweezers or optical-electric tweezers technology is that it is difficult to form a strong force and efficiently manipulate particles and flow fields.

[0054] For example, in the existing polymer flexible material, nanometer magnetic particles are mixed to form a hard magnetic flexible material. The flexible hard magnetic material is magnetized, shaped into a rod array, and has different magnetic driving behaviors in a magnetic field due to the different magnetization orientations of different magnetic units, which can simulate the movement of cilia and facilitate the generation of asynchronous waves and efficient fluid pumping. However, this method is difficult to be compatible with MEMS technology, and the cilia unit at the current stage is usually in millimeter scale, which is difficult to be miniaturized. In addition, due to the synchronization of the magnetic field driving technology, the difference in the polarization direction of the hard magnetic material can usually expand the phase difference (angle difference) of the cilia swing, which is difficult to drive the adjacent cilia units to swing in the opposite direction, resulting in limited flow field coding capability.

[0055] To solve the above technical problems, the present application provides a microfluidic array assembly and device, wherein the microfluidic array assembly comprises a plurality of array-arranged micro rotor units, each micro rotor unit comprising at least one micro rotor pair, each micro rotor pair comprising a first gear and a second gear, both the first gear and the second gear having gear teeth; part of the gear teeth of the first gear mesh with part of the gear teeth of the second gear, and the microfluidic array assembly has a flow field generated by the micro rotor pair under external force driving, the flow field comprising a flow field enhancement region and a flow field suppression region.

[0056] The part of the gear teeth of the first gear meshes with the part of the gear teeth of the second gear to generate a local micro flow field under external force driving, which is coupled under the array arrangement of the micro rotor pair to generate the flow field enhancement region and the flow field suppression region, and the difference in flow rate and direction of the flow field is formed to adjust the driving of the fluid, and the flow field is also convenient for coding. Therefore, the design method provided by the present application is beneficial to increase the adjustable performance of the flow field to improve the flexible, efficient and high-precision control of large-area and / or large-volume fluid, and to customize the required flow field of the fluid as needed.

[0057] Since the microfluidic array assembly provided by the present application has high efficiency and high precision in controlling large-area and / or large-volume fluid, and since the generated flow field is convenient for coding, the microfluidic array assembly can be further designed into a chip with a specific coding structure to facilitate the regulation of the fluid. The present application includes a microfluidic device which can select the microfluidic array assembly to be arranged on a substrate to define a microfluidic channel and further prepared. The present application also includes the use of the microfluidic array assembly in an open fluid environment. The microfluidic device provided by the present application can be used for separating and purifying biological particles, performing cell analysis, drug screening, etc., and therefore has good application prospect in the biomedical field.

[0058] In addition, the present application provides a method for adjusting the distribution of the flow field, which uses the above-mentioned microfluidic array assembly or microfluidic device, and the method comprises selecting and designing a matching microfluidic array assembly or microfluidic device according to the required flow field of the fluid.

[0059] The microfluidic array assembly of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with specific drawings, but the description is not intended to limit the microfluidic array assembly.

[0060] In some embodiments, the present application provides a microfluidic array assembly, wherein the microfluidic array assembly comprises a plurality of groups of array-arranged micro-rotor units, each micro-rotor unit comprising at least one micro-rotor pair, each micro-rotor pair comprising a first gear and a second gear; a portion of the teeth of the first gear meshes with a portion of the teeth of the second gear; and the microfluidic array assembly has a flow field generated by the micro-rotor pair under external force driving, the flow field comprising a flow field enhancement region and a flow field suppression region.

[0061] The shape and structure of the first gear and the second gear of the present application are all conventional gears with tooth structure in the art, and the design of the stator spacing, the pitch, and the tooth profile curve of the two gears all follows the gear meshing transmission principle.

[0062] In some embodiments, the first gear has magnetic field response capability, and the second gear does not have magnetic field response capability; or the first gear does not have magnetic field response capability, and the second gear has magnetic field response capability. The present application in these embodiments selects to have magnetic field response capability includes adding magnetic material to the substrate of the first gear or the second gear, wherein the magnetic material includes any material of conventional in the art, such as iron, nickel, cobalt, neodymium iron boron, barium ferrite oxide, etc. The material of the substrate includes one or more of metal, oxide, semiconductor material, or organic polymer, which has the characteristics of not easily dissolving in the fluid or not having chemical reaction, etc. The magnetic material of the present application can be doped in the substrate to make the gear with magnetic field response capability, or a thin film containing magnetic material is formed on the surface of the substrate. In some embodiments of the present application, it is preferred to use magnetic materials such as nickel or cobalt, which are formed on the surface of the substrate SU-8 photoresist by magnetron sputtering, evaporation plating, etc. The gears formed in these embodiments are convenient to be compatible with the MEMS manufacturing process in the micro-actuator.

[0063] FIG. 1A And FIG. 1B The specific meshing relationship of the first gear 110 and the second gear 120 is shown, and the arrows in the figure are used to indicate the transmission direction of the gears.

[0064] The microfluidic array assembly 1 in the embodiments of the present application comprises a plurality of groups of array-arranged micro-rotor units 10, wherein the plurality of groups comprises two or more groups, and the array arrangement comprises any arrangement mode of conventional in the art.

[0065] The flow field enhancement region and the flow field inhibition region of the present application have different flow field flow rates and flow field directions, etc., and the flow field enhancement region and the flow field inhibition region include the coupling results of two or more micro-rotor pairs generating flow fields under the driving of external force, and do not represent all coupling cases. The flow field enhancement region and the flow field inhibition region of the present application are used to describe typical coupling flow field results, and can be specifically as follows FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B a schematic arrangement mode is generated.

[0066] As FIG. 2A a kind of arrangement mode of two micro-rotor pairs 100 is shown, wherein the center line of the two gears of one micro-rotor pair and the center line of the two gears of another micro-rotor pair are on the same straight line, and the second gear of one micro-rotor pair is arranged close to the first gear of another micro-rotor pair. When the two micro-rotor pairs generate local micro flow field under the driving of external force, the local micro flow field in the close area of the two micro-rotor pairs will be coupled to form a flow field enhancement region, as FIG. 2A I region is shown.

[0067] Specifically as FIG. 2B Another arrangement mode of two micro-rotor pairs 100 is shown, wherein the center line of the two gears of one micro-rotor pair and the center line of the two gears of another micro-rotor pair are on the same straight line, and the second gear of one micro-rotor pair is arranged close to the second gear of another micro-rotor pair. When the two micro-rotor pairs generate local micro flow field under the driving of external force, the local micro flow field in the close area of the two micro-rotor pairs will be weakened to form a flow field inhibition region, as FIG. 2B II region is shown.

[0068] As described above, the micro-rotor unit 10 in the embodiment of the present application includes at least one micro-rotor pair 100, and the micro-fluid array assembly 1 includes multiple groups of array-arranged micro-rotor units 10, i.e., the micro-fluid array assembly 1 includes two or more micro-rotor pairs 100, as FIG. 2A , FIG. 2BFor example, more than two micro-rotor pairs 100 can generate a flow field enhancement region and a flow field suppression region, i.e., the micro-fluid array assembly 1 has more than one flow field enhancement region and more than one flow field suppression region, thereby facilitating the transfer of fluid from the flow field suppression region to the flow field enhancement region, and adjusting the driving ability of the fluid by increasing the difference in flow rate and direction of the flow field in different regions. At the same time, the array arrangement of each flow field enhancement region and each flow field suppression region of the micro-fluid array assembly is affected by the array arrangement mode of the micro-rotor unit, so the present application forms a strong flow field to improve the flexible, efficient and high-precision control of large-area and / or large-volume fluid, and customizes the required flow field of the fluid as needed. In addition, the driving direction of each micro-rotor pair is mainly driven by external force, and the external force driving mode includes clockwise driving or counterclockwise driving, so that each micro-rotor pair corresponds to two flow field generation modes. If the flow field generation mode of each micro-rotor pair is encoded, different flow fields with specific codes can be generated according to the array arrangement mode of the micro-fluid array assembly, which facilitates the regulation of fluid and improves the integration of the assembly.

[0069] Next, different arrangement modes of the micro-rotor unit in the micro-fluid array assembly will be described in detail.

[0070] In some embodiments, the present application provides an arrangement mode of a micro-rotor unit, which adopts a horizontal and vertical array arrangement, each micro-rotor unit contains a micro-rotor pair, and the local micro-flow field generated by the two adjacent micro-rotor pairs under the driving of external force is coupled to form a flow field enhancement region and / or a flow field suppression region.

[0071] In some embodiments, each micro-rotor pair contains a first gear and a second gear, and the first gear has a magnetic field response ability, and the second gear does not have a magnetic field response ability.

[0072] Specifically, FIG. 3A and 3B For example, one micro-rotor pair 100 forms a micro-rotor unit 10, each micro-rotor pair 100 is arranged in a first direction (coordinate axis x direction) to form a first horizontal row, each micro-rotor pair 100 is arranged in a second direction (coordinate axis y direction) to form a second vertical row, more than one first horizontal row and more than one second vertical row intersect to form a micro-fluid array assembly 1 arranged in a horizontal and vertical array, and the center line of the two gears of any micro-rotor pair 100 in the first horizontal row is on the same straight line as the center line of the two gears of another micro-rotor pair. The center line of the two gears of any micro-rotor pair 100 in the first vertical row is on the same straight line as the center line of the two gears of another micro-rotor pair. Among them, FIG. 3AIn some embodiments, the arrangement of the micro-rotor pairs 100 in the first row comprises: the second gear 120 of one micro-rotor pair 100 is arranged adjacent to the first gear 110 of another micro-rotor pair 100. The arrangement of the micro-rotor pairs 100 in the first column comprises: the first gear 110 of one micro-rotor pair 100 is arranged adjacent to the first gear 110 of another micro-rotor pair 100, and the second gear 120 of one micro-rotor pair 100 is arranged adjacent to the second gear 120 of another micro-rotor pair 100. The micro-rotor pairs arranged in the above-mentioned manner generate a flow field under the driving of an external force in a certain mode. FIG. 3A A schematic flow field is shown, wherein the flow field enhancement region I is distributed along the second direction (the coordinate axis y direction). At the same time, the flow field suppression region II is distributed along the first direction (the coordinate axis x direction). FIG. 3B In some embodiments, the arrangement of the micro-rotor pairs 100 in the first row comprises: the second gear 120 of one micro-rotor pair 100 is arranged adjacent to the second gear 120 of another micro-rotor pair 100, and the first gear 110 of one micro-rotor pair 100 is arranged adjacent to the second gear 120 of another micro-rotor pair 100. The arrangement of the micro-rotor pairs 100 in the first column comprises: the first gear 110 of one micro-rotor pair 100 is arranged adjacent to the first gear 110 of another micro-rotor pair 100, and the second gear 120 of one micro-rotor pair 100 is arranged adjacent to the second gear 120 of another micro-rotor pair 100. The micro-rotor pairs arranged in the above-mentioned manner generate a flow field under the driving of an external force in a certain mode. FIG. 3B A schematic flow field is shown, wherein the flow field suppression region II is distributed along the second direction (the coordinate axis y direction).

[0073] In some embodiments, the micro-rotor unit is arranged in a honeycomb array. Each micro-rotor unit comprises two or more micro-rotor pairs. The local micro-flow fields generated by the two micro-rotor pairs arranged adjacently under the driving of an external force are coupled to form a flow field enhancement region and / or a flow field suppression region. The "honeycomb" in the present application comprises connecting the centers of the gears of each micro-rotor pair of the micro-rotor unit to form a polygonal enclosed region. FIG. 3A Or FIG. 3B In some embodiments, the arrangement of the micro-rotor unit can independently constitute a micro-fluid array assembly. The present application further comprises the combination of the micro-rotor units arranged in the above-mentioned manner. FIG. 3A And FIG. 3B In some embodiments, the arrangement of the micro-rotor unit is applied to a micro-fluid array assembly. The present application does not make further description.

[0074] In some embodiments, the present application provides an arrangement of micro-rotor units arranged in a honeycomb array. Each micro-rotor unit comprises two or more micro-rotor pairs. The local micro-flow fields generated by the two micro-rotor pairs arranged adjacently under the driving of an external force are coupled to form a flow field enhancement region and / or a flow field suppression region. The "honeycomb" in the present application comprises connecting the centers of the gears of each micro-rotor pair of the micro-rotor unit to form a polygonal enclosed region.

[0075] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4A A schematic arrangement is shown, in which FIG. 4AIn the microfluidic array assembly 1, each micro-rotor unit 10 comprises three micro-rotor pairs 100, and the centers of the gears in each micro-rotor pair 100 are connected to form a quadrilateral enclosed area A, and the flow field enhancement area and the flow field suppression area are contained in the inside and outside of the enclosed area A. In FIG. 4, the curved arrow represents the driving direction of the gears, the thick arrow represents the partial flow field enhancement area, and the area outside the flow field enhancement area is the flow field suppression area. FIG. 4A In the microfluidic array assembly 1, two adjacent microfluidic array assemblies 1 share the micro-rotor pairs 100.

[0076] FIG. 4B 、 4C Another two arrangements are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, in which FIG. 4B 、 4C In the microfluidic array assembly 1, each micro-rotor unit 10 comprises four micro-rotor pairs 100, and the centers of the gears in each micro-rotor pair 100 are connected to form an octagonal enclosed area A, and the flow field enhancement area and the flow field suppression area are contained in the inside and outside of the enclosed area A. In FIG. 4, the curved arrow represents the driving direction of the gears, the thick arrow represents the partial flow field enhancement area, and the area outside the flow field enhancement area is the flow field suppression area. FIG. 4B 、 4C In the microfluidic array assembly, two adjacent microfluidic array assemblies 1 do not share the micro-rotor pairs 100. Although FIG. 4B 、 4C In the microfluidic array assembly 1, each micro-rotor unit 10 comprises four micro-rotor pairs 100, but the arrangement modes of the micro-rotor pairs 100 are different, mainly reflected in that FIG. 4B In the microfluidic array assembly 1, each micro-rotor unit 10 comprises four micro-rotor pairs 100, but the arrangement modes of the micro-rotor pairs 100 are different, mainly reflected in that FIG. 4C In the microfluidic array assembly 1, each micro-rotor unit 10 comprises four micro-rotor pairs 100, but the arrangement modes of the micro-rotor pairs 100 are different, mainly reflected in that

[0077] FIG. 4D Another arrangement is shown in FIG. 7, in which FIG. 4DIn the microfluidic array assembly 1, the microfluidic array assembly 1 comprises two micro-rotor units 10, a first micro-rotor unit 10a and a second micro-rotor unit 10b, each first micro-rotor unit 10a is arranged along the second direction, each second micro-rotor unit 10b is arranged along the first direction, the first micro-rotor unit 10a and the second micro-rotor unit 10b do not share the micro-rotor pair 100. And the first micro-rotor unit 10a and the second micro-rotor unit 10b each comprise four micro-rotor pairs 100, the centers of each gear in each micro-rotor pair 100 are connected end to end to form an octagonal enclosed area A, the flow field enhancement area and the flow field suppression area are included inside and outside the enclosed area A, wherein the curved arrow in Figure 4 represents the gear driving direction, the bold arrow represents the partial flow field enhancement area, and the area outside the flow field enhancement area is the flow field suppression area. Since the arrangement mode of the micro-rotor pair 100 in the first micro-rotor unit 10a is different from the arrangement mode of the micro-rotor pair 100 in the second micro-rotor unit 10b, the flow field inside and outside the enclosed area A of the first micro-rotor unit 10a is different, thereby forming different flow field enhancement areas and flow field suppression areas.

[0078] FIG. 4E 、 4F Two other arrangements are illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, in which FIG. 4E 、 4F In the microfluidic array assembly 1, the microfluidic array assembly 1 comprises two micro-rotor units 10, and the two micro-rotor units 10 share the micro-rotor pair 100. In FIG. 4E , the microfluidic array assembly 1 comprises a first micro-rotor unit 10a and a second micro-rotor unit 10b, and each first micro-rotor unit 10a is arranged along the first direction, and each second micro-rotor unit 10b is arranged along the first direction. In the second direction, the two adjacent second micro-rotor units 10 are the first micro-rotor unit 10a and the second micro-rotor unit 10b, respectively. FIG. 4F , the microfluidic array assembly 1 comprises a first micro-rotor unit 10a and a second micro-rotor unit 10b, along the first direction, the first micro-rotor unit 10a and the second micro-rotor unit 10b are arranged alternately, and along the second direction, the first micro-rotor unit 10a and the second micro-rotor unit 10b are arranged alternately. FIG. 4E and 4FEach of the micro-rotor units 10 comprises four micro-rotor pairs 100. The centers of the gears in each of the micro-rotor pairs 100 are connected end to end to form an octagonal enclosed area A. The enclosed area A comprises flow field enhancement regions and flow field suppression regions inside and outside the enclosed area A. The curved arrow in FIG. 4 indicates the gear driving direction. The bold arrow indicates a portion of the flow field enhancement region. The regions outside the flow field enhancement region are flow field suppression regions. Because the micro-rotor pair 100 arrangement pattern in the first micro-rotor unit 10a is different from the micro-rotor pair 100 arrangement pattern in the second micro-rotor unit 10b, the flow fields inside and outside the enclosed area A of the first micro-rotor unit 10a are different, forming different flow field enhancement regions and flow field suppression regions.

[0079] The present application relates to FIG. 5 The present application relates to FIG. 4F A micro-structure diagram of the microfluidic array assembly is shown. Each gear in the diagram comprises six teeth. For two adjacent micro-rotors, the line connecting the centers of the gears in one micro-rotor is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the gears in the other micro-rotor.

[0080] The present application relates to FIGS. 3A-4FIt can be known from the schematic microfluidic array assembly that different flow fields can be generated by adjusting the distribution of each micro-rotor unit and / or by adjusting the arrangement mode of each micro-rotor pair in the micro-rotor unit, such as generating different flow field enhancement zones and flow field inhibition zones at different positions, and adjusting the driving of the fluid by forming the difference in the flow rate and direction of the flow field. Since the array arrangement of the micro-rotor pairs in the microfluidic array assembly can form a large-area flow field, and the large-area flow field has the difference in the flow rate and direction of the flow field at different positions. Therefore, the microfluidic array assembly provided by the present application facilitates flexible, efficient and high-precision control of large-area and / or large-volume fluid, and customizes the required flow field of the fluid as needed. At the same time, since the flow field generation mode of each micro-rotor pair can be coded, on this basis, different flow fields with specific codes are facilitated to be generated, which facilitates the control of the fluid and also facilitates the improvement of the integration of the assembly. It should be understood that the terms used herein are for the purpose of describing specific example embodiments only and are not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms "comprises", "comprising", "includes", "including" and "has" are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be interpreted as necessarily requiring their performance in the specific order indicated, unless explicitly stated otherwise. It should also be understood that additional or alternative steps can be employed. The above description is merely the preferred specific embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical scope disclosed by the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A microfluidic array assembly, characterized by: The invention comprises a plurality of micro-rotor units arranged in an array, wherein the micro-rotor unit comprises at least one micro-rotor pair, wherein the micro-rotor pair comprises a first gear and a second gear, wherein part of the gear teeth of the first gear meshes with part of the gear teeth of the second gear; The microfluidic array assembly comprises a flow field generated by the micro-rotor pair under the driving of an external force, wherein the flow field comprises a flow field enhancement area and a flow field suppression area.

2. The microfluidic array assembly of claim 1, wherein: The microfluidic array assembly includes a plurality of micro-rotor units arranged in a transverse and longitudinal array, and the micro-rotor unit includes a micro-rotor pair.

3. The microfluidic array assembly of claim 1, wherein: The microfluidic array assembly includes a plurality of micro-rotor units arranged in a honeycomb array, and the micro-rotor units include two or more micro-rotor pairs.

4. The microfluidic array assembly of claim 3, wherein: Centers of the gears of the micro-rotor pairs of the micro-rotor unit are connected end to end to form a polygonal enclosed area.

5. The microfluidic array assembly of claim 4, wherein: The enclosed area includes a micro-rotor pair shared by two adjacent groups of micro-rotor units.

6. The microfluidic array assembly of any one of claims 1-5, wherein: The microfluidic array component is provided with more than one flow field enhancement area and more than one flow field suppression area.

7. The microfluidic array assembly of claim 6, wherein: Different array arrangements of the micro-rotor units of the microfluidic array assembly are used to generate flow fields with specific coding.

8. The microfluidic array assembly of claim 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 7, wherein: The first gear has a magnetic field response capability, and the second gear does not have a magnetic field response capability; or; The first gear does not have the ability to respond to a magnetic field, and the second gear has the ability to respond to a magnetic field.

9. The microfluidic array assembly of claim 8, wherein: The providing the magnetic field response capability includes adding magnetic material to the matrix of the first gear or the second gear.

10. The microfluidic array assembly of claim 9, wherein: The magnetic material includes one or more of iron, nickel, cobalt, neodymium iron boron, and barium iron oxide.

11. A microfluidic device, characterized by: A microfluidic array component comprising the microfluidic array component according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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