High-flux emulsification device without high temperature and with uniform and controllable particle size

Abstract

The utility model relates to a high-flux emulsifying device without high temperature and with uniform and controllable particle size. The device comprises an upper structural sheet, a lower structural sheet and a substrate sheet which are sequentially overlapped, a micro-droplet generation unit is arranged on the lower structural sheet, and the micro-droplet generation unit is composed of a continuous phase channel, a dispersed phase channel and a micro-droplet collection outlet located at the tail end of the continuous phase channel which are communicated with one another; the dispersed phase channel is arranged on the lower structural sheet, and the continuous phase channel and the micro-droplet collecting outlet are arranged on the lower structural sheet and the substrate sheet; a dispersed phase inlet and a continuous phase inlet are formed in the upper structural sheet, the dispersed phase inlet is communicated with the dispersed phase channel, and the continuous phase inlet is communicated with the continuous phase channel. Compared with the prior art, the micro-droplet generating device has the advantages that the micro-droplet generating particle size can be adjusted by adjusting geometric parameters of the device while the micro-droplet producing speed is increased, and uniform and stable micro-droplets can be generated under the condition that the micro-droplet generating device is not affected by temperature, flow velocity of fluid, viscosity and interfacial tension.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model belongs to the technical field of microfluidics and relates to a high-throughput emulsification device that does not require high temperature and has uniform and controllable particle size. Background Technique

[0002] As the core component of microfluidic technology, different from traditional macroscopic-scale fluid devices that rely on convective effects, mixing in microfluidic chips occurs in microscopic-scale channels with special microstructures, and has very high mass transfer efficiency.

[0003] After decades of development, microfluidic chips represented by T-shaped, cross-shaped, co-flow type, etc. have been formed, such as CN110252433A, CN106807463A, etc. These chips generally need to generate droplets under the drive of stable positive pressure or negative pressure. The pinching process of droplet formation in traditional channels such as T-shaped and cross-shaped mainly relies on the shear and extrusion of the continuous phase. Therefore, the droplet size is greatly affected by operating conditions, such as the flow rate, viscosity, and interfacial tension of the fluid. In the industrial process, due to reasons such as the feeding method and the processing accuracy of the equipment, the flow rate fluctuations and pressure fluctuations of multiple phases will occur, generating polydisperse droplets. It also takes a certain amount of time to form a stable flow rate, which will cause a large waste of time, materials, etc. Therefore, it is difficult to scale up the channel structure, and the industrialization process is slow. Moreover, when the fluid undergoes interfacial polymerization with the cross-linking agent, it will cause fouling of the device. Fouling slows down the reaction, limits the number of formed droplets, and cannot achieve a high passing number of droplets per unit time, further resulting in the inability to mass-produce.

[0004] Due to the limitation of the yield of single-channel microfluidic droplet technology, based on the existing microfluidic droplet technology that uses a single droplet production unit to produce micro-droplets, certain progress has been made in the research and development of high-throughput production technology by integrating a large number of droplet production units for microfluidic amplification technology. In recent years, a "millipede" chip has been designed to produce micro-droplet particles with basically the same particle size at a certain flow rate gradient, and finally a droplet production of 150 milliliters per hour can be achieved.

[0005] The change in temperature will affect the viscosity and interfacial tension of the fluid, and the viscosity and interfacial tension will directly determine whether droplets can be generated during the droplet generation process. A large number of studies have shown that the viscosity of droplets decreases with the increase in temperature. At temperatures above 40 °C, highly uniform droplets can be generated, and it is found that it takes a longer time to generate double emulsion droplets at higher temperatures. Low production rate and non-uniform droplets are one of the important factors restricting the application of droplet microfluidic devices. To meet the application requirements of the micro-droplet generation device market, at present, stepped emulsification has developed into another important method that can generate droplets with stable sizes. Moreover, the device is portable and simple, droplets are not easily accumulated at the nozzle, and it has the advantages of diverse driving methods, simple amplification methods, and controllable product sizes, greatly reducing the design, processing, and operating costs of the chip.

[0006] Therefore, there is an urgent need for a high-throughput

[0007] emulsification device that can be formed without high temperature and has uniform and controllable particle sizes, which can achieve high throughput per unit time, improve stability, and control droplet size, while making the formation of droplets not affected by the flow rate, viscosity, and interfacial tension of the fluid. Designing a micro-droplet emulsification device with a new structure has certain practical significance. Summary of the Utility Model

[0008] The purpose of the present utility model is to provide a high-throughput emulsification device that can be formed without high temperature and has uniform and controllable particle sizes to solve at least one of the above problems, so as to solve the problems that micro-droplets are easily affected by the properties of the fluid and have poor stability in the prior art. Through the design optimization of the structure, the present solution realizes that while improving the droplet throughput, that is, a higher throughput per unit time, stability, and controllable droplet size, the particle size of the generated micro-droplets can be adjusted by adjusting the geometric parameters of the device, and the generated uniform and stable micro-droplets are not affected by temperature, the flow rate, viscosity, and interfacial tension of the fluid.

[0009] The purpose of the present utility model is achieved through the following technical solutions:

[0010] The first aspect of the present utility model discloses a high-throughput emulsification device that can be formed without high temperature and has uniform and controllable particle sizes, including an upper structural sheet, a lower structural sheet, and a base sheet stacked in sequence;

[0011] A micro-droplet generation unit is arranged on the lower structural sheet, and the micro-droplet generation unit is composed of a continuous phase channel, a dispersed phase channel, and a micro-droplet collection outlet located at the end of the continuous phase channel that are connected and communicated; the dispersed phase channel is arranged on the lower structural sheet, and the continuous phase channel and the micro-droplet collection outlet are arranged on the lower structural sheet and the base sheet to form a stepped structure;

[0012] The upper structural sheet is provided with a disperse phase inlet and a continuous phase inlet. The disperse phase inlet is communicated with a disperse phase channel, and the continuous phase inlet is communicated with a continuous phase channel.

[0013] Preferably, a plurality of micro-droplet generating units are provided. The disperse phase outlet at the end of the disperse phase channel forms a step with the continuous phase channel. The disperse phase fluid reaches the step through the expanded disperse phase outlet and enters the continuous channel.

[0014] Preferably, the width of the continuous phase channel increases along the flowing direction of the continuous phase, and the disperse phase outlet is arranged in a gradually expanding geometric structure.

[0015] Preferably, the disperse phase outlet is arranged in a triangular shape or a Reuleaux triangle shape.

[0016] Preferably, the micro-droplet collection outlet is a rectangular slot on the lower structural sheet and the base sheet.

[0017] Preferably, the disperse phase channel includes a disperse phase main channel and a disperse phase micro-channel. The disperse phase main channel is communicated with the continuous phase channel through the disperse phase micro-channel, and the disperse phase micro-channel is connected between the disperse phase main channel and the disperse phase outlet.

[0018] Preferably, a plurality of disperse phase micro-channels are provided and are arranged at intervals along the flowing direction of the continuous phase.

[0019] Preferably, the geometric parameters of the disperse phase micro-channels are adjustable, so as to realize adjustable and controllable particle sizes.

[0020] Preferably, the disperse phase micro-channels are arranged in parallel with each other.

[0021] Preferably, the disperse phase micro-channels are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the continuous phase channel.

[0022] Preferably, the materials of the upper structural sheet and the lower structural sheet are one of PDMS silicone layer, stainless steel material, acrylic polymer material and glass.

[0023] The second aspect of the present utility model discloses an application of a high-throughput emulsification device without high temperature and with uniform and controllable particle size as described in any one of the above in the fields of microfluidics technology, cosmetics field, biomedicine and clinical field.

[0024] Compared with the prior art, the present utility model has the following beneficial effects:

[0025] A high-throughput emulsification device provided by the present utility model, which does not require high temperature and has uniform and controllable particle size, through structural optimization, makes the generation of micro-droplets not affected by fluid properties (in this solution, a stepped emulsification device is adopted, and the generation of its droplets is facilitated by the sudden decrease in height at the end of each continuous phase channel. The larger curvature of the expanding micro-droplets leads to a decrease in Laplace pressure, thereby driving additional fluid to flow in to form micro-droplets. The size of the micro-droplets generated in this way is independent of fluid properties and flow rate), such as temperature, fluid flow rate, viscosity, and interfacial tension, etc., greatly improving the efficiency of the device during operation and saving manpower and material resources.

[0026] A high-throughput emulsification device provided by the present utility model adjusts the particle size of micro-droplets by changing the geometric parameters of the device and the droplet contact angle, and the change in droplet particle size is not affected by the fluid concentration.

[0027] A high-throughput emulsification device provided by the present utility model can greatly increase the number of micro-droplets generated within the same time by setting several parallel dispersed phase micro-channels and micro-droplet generation units.

[0028] A high-throughput emulsification device provided by the present utility model reduces the accumulation and merging of micro-droplets downstream of the generation by setting the width of the continuous phase channel to increase along the continuous phase flow direction, and better realizes the monodispersity of micro-droplets.

[0029] A high-throughput emulsification device provided by the present utility model makes the generation of micro-droplets not affected by the reaction temperature through structural settings.

[0030] The number of micro-droplets produced by the present utility model per unit time is more than ten times that of the flow focusing production device under the same conditions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Figure 1 is an exploded structural view of the high-throughput emulsification device;

[0032] Figure 2 is a top view structural view of the lower structural sheet;

[0033] Figure 3 is a sectional structural view of the high-throughput emulsification device;

[0034] In the figure: 1 - dispersed phase outlet; 2 - dispersed phase micro-channel; 3 - step; 4 - micro-droplet collection outlet; 5 - lower structural sheet; 6 - upper structural sheet; 7 - dispersed phase inlet; 8 - continuous phase inlet; 9 - base sheet; 10 - micro-droplet generation unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0035] The present utility model will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be understood that the following embodiments are only used to illustrate the present utility model and not to limit the scope of the present utility model. Unless otherwise specifically stated, the relative arrangements and numerical values of the components and steps described in these embodiments do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0036] The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and in no way limits the present disclosure or its application or use. That is, the structures and methods herein are shown in an exemplary manner to illustrate different embodiments of the structures and methods in the present disclosure. In addition, the drawings do not have to be drawn to scale, and some features may be enlarged to show the details of specific components. Since the chip of the present utility model does not require an externally powered pump valve assembly to drive the fluid, the number of components and the overall volume of the chip and its supporting equipment are also small. It should be understood that the actual microfluidic chip may also include other components, but in order to avoid obscuring the key points of the present disclosure, these other components are not discussed herein and are not shown in the drawings.

[0037] Embodiment

[0038] A high-throughput emulsification device that does not require high temperature and has uniform and controllable particle size, such as Figures 1 - 3 , includes a top structural sheet 6, a bottom structural sheet 5, and a substrate sheet 9 that are stacked in sequence;

[0039] A micro-droplet generation unit 10 is provided on the bottom structural sheet 5. The micro-droplet generation unit 10 is composed of a continuous phase channel, a dispersed phase channel, and a micro-droplet collection outlet 4 located at the end of the continuous phase channel; the dispersed phase channel is provided on the bottom structural sheet 6, and the continuous phase channel and the micro-droplet collection outlet 4 are provided on the bottom structural sheet 5 and the substrate sheet 9 to form a stepped structure;

[0040] A dispersed phase inlet 7 and a continuous phase inlet 8 are provided on the top structural sheet 6. The dispersed phase inlet 7 is communicated with the dispersed phase channel, and the continuous phase inlet 8 is communicated with the continuous phase channel.

[0041] More specifically, in this embodiment:

[0042] Such as Figure 1 shown, is a schematic diagram of the layered structure of the emulsification device in this embodiment, including: a bottom structural sheet 5, a top structural sheet 6, and a substrate sheet 9. Among them, the top structural sheet 6 is provided with a dispersed phase inlet 7 and two continuous phase inlets 8, and is respectively connected to external input pipes for continuously supplying the dispersed phase and the continuous phase. Multiple micro-droplet generation units 10 are provided on the bottom structural sheet 5 and the substrate sheet 9, including a dispersed phase channel (which can be further divided into a dispersed phase micro-channel 2 and a dispersed phase main channel) and a continuous phase channel, which are respectively communicated with the dispersed phase inlet 7 and the continuous phase inlet 8.

[0043] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the micro-droplet generating unit 10 is composed of a plurality of dispersed phase microchannels 2 in parallel in two rows, a dispersed phase main channel connecting each dispersed phase microchannel 2, and a continuous phase channel. The dispersed phase microchannel 2 and the dispersed phase main channel are both arranged on the lower structure sheet 5, and the continuous phase channel is arranged on the lower structure sheet 5 and the base sheet 9, thereby forming a step 3 based on the height difference between the dispersed phase channel and the continuous phase channel.

[0044] Each dispersed phase microchannel 2 is provided with a dispersed phase outlet 1 at the end thereof, and the dispersed phase outlet 1 is provided with a gradually expanding geometric structure, and each dispersed phase microchannel 2 is connected to a continuous phase channel through the dispersed phase outlet 1. The dispersed phase outlet 1 adopts a gradually expanding triangular structure or a Lurox triangle structure, which shortens the time required to form droplets and improves stability, thereby improving the uniformity and throughput of the generated microdroplets.

[0045] like Figure 2 As shown, the overall shape of the dispersed phase main channel is in the shape of a "gate", which encloses the continuous phase channel, and the dispersed phase microchannels 2 are symmetrically and parallelly arranged on both sides of the continuous phase channel; and the flow channel extension directions on both sides of the dispersed phase main channel are also parallel to the side edges of the adjacent continuous phase channel, so as to control the lengths of each dispersed phase microchannel 2 to remain basically consistent.

[0046] The lower structure sheet 5 and the upper structure sheet 6 can be processed by using materials such as PDMS silicone layer, stainless steel material, acrylic polymer material, glass, etc.

[0047] The width of the continuous phase channel gradually increases along the flow direction of the continuous phase therein, which can avoid the inevitable accumulation and merging of droplets when a large number of droplets are generated, and improve the stability of the micro-droplets; its ends are located on the sides of the lower structure sheet 5 and the base sheet 9, forming a rectangular outlet of the continuous phase channel, namely the micro-droplet collection outlet 4.

[0048] like Figure 1 As shown. The dispersed phase enters the dispersed phase channel from the dispersed phase inlet 7, reaches the dispersed phase microchannel 2 and the dispersed phase outlet 1 through two bifurcations, reaches the platform through the expanded dispersed phase outlet 1, and then enters the continuous phase channel. In a chip without steps, the continuous phase can only flow to the squeezed position of the neck through the narrow groove between the dispersed phase and the wall, and is easily affected by the fluctuation of the continuous phase, resulting in polydispersity of the droplets; while in this device, the clamping position of the droplet neck is on the step 3, not in the closed microchannel.

[0049] The emulsification device also uses several identical parallel dispersed phase microchannels 2, which are densely arranged to achieve high-throughput generation of microdroplets 4. At the same time, for the production of microdroplets 4 of different sizes, the geometric parameters of the device can be changed, the production cost is low, and it is easy to mass produce.

[0050] The use of the emulsification device is as follows: 100 dispersed phase microchannels in parallel, two microdroplet production units are used as examples, 6% polyethylene glycol aqueous solution is used as the dispersed phase, fluorinated oil containing 1wt% surfactant is used as the continuous phase, and the fixed continuous flow rate is twice that of the dispersed phase. The polyethylene glycol aqueous solution is input from the dispersed phase inlet 7, and the fluorinated oil containing surfactant is input through the continuous phase inlet 8 at the same time. The polyethylene glycol aqueous solution enters the side-by-side dispersed phase microchannel 2 after passing through two bifurcated channels in the dispersed phase main channel, and then reaches the connection point of the two-phase channel-the step 3 of the dispersed phase outlet 1 with a geometric shape, so that the polyethylene glycol aqueous solution separates from the step 3 when it reaches the end of the step 3 and spontaneously transforms into spherical microdroplets. Subsequently, with the continuous input of the oil phase, it passes through the gradually widening continuous phase channel to reach the rectangular microdroplet collection outlet 4 on the side for collection, and the speed of the generated microdroplets is 8.6mL / h. Under the same conditions, the speed of generating microdroplets using the confocal flow method is 0.31mL / h.

[0051] The above description of the embodiments is to facilitate the understanding and use of the utility model by those skilled in the art. It is obvious that those familiar with the art can easily make various modifications to these embodiments and apply the general principles described herein to other embodiments without creative work. Therefore, the utility model is not limited to the above embodiments, and improvements and modifications made by those skilled in the art based on the disclosure of the utility model without departing from the scope of the utility model should be within the scope of protection of the utility model.

Claims

1. A high-throughput emulsification device that does not require high temperature and has uniform and controllable particle size, characterized in that It includes an upper structural sheet (6), a lower structural sheet (5) and a base sheet (9) which are sequentially stacked and arranged; A micro-droplet generating unit (10) is arranged on the lower structural sheet (5). The micro-droplet generating unit (10) is composed of a continuous-phase channel, a dispersed-phase channel and a micro-droplet collection outlet (4) located at the end of the continuous-phase channel, which are communicated with each other. The dispersed-phase channel is arranged on the lower structural sheet (6), and the continuous-phase channel and the micro-droplet collection outlet (4) are arranged on the lower structural sheet (5) and the base sheet (9) to form a stepped structure; A dispersed-phase inlet (7) and a continuous-phase inlet (8) are arranged on the upper structural sheet (6). The dispersed-phase inlet (7) is communicated with the dispersed-phase channel, and the continuous-phase inlet (8) is communicated with the continuous-phase channel.

2. A high-throughput emulsification device without high temperature and with controllable uniform particle size according to claim 1, characterized in that, A plurality of micro-droplet generating units (10) are arranged. A stepped portion (3) is formed between the dispersed-phase outlet (1) at the end of the dispersed-phase channel and the continuous-phase channel. The dispersed-phase fluid reaches the stepped portion (3) through the expanded dispersed-phase outlet (1) and enters the continuous-phase channel.

3. A high-throughput emulsification device that does not require high temperature and has uniform and controllable particle size, characterized in that, The width of the continuous-phase channel increases along the continuous-phase flow direction.

4. A high-throughput emulsification device that does not require high temperature and has uniform and controllable particle size, characterized in that, The dispersed-phase outlet (1) is arranged in a gradually expanding geometric structure.

5. A high-throughput emulsification device that does not require high temperature and has a uniform and controllable particle size, characterized in that, The dispersed-phase outlet (1) is arranged in a triangular or Reuleaux triangular shape.

6. A high-throughput emulsification device without high temperature and with controllable and uniform particle size according to claim 1, characterized in that, The dispersed-phase channel includes a dispersed-phase main channel and dispersed-phase micro-channels (2). The dispersed-phase main channel is communicated with the continuous-phase channel through the dispersed-phase micro-channels (2), and the dispersed-phase micro-channels (2) are connected between the dispersed-phase main channel and the dispersed-phase outlet (1).

7. A high-throughput emulsification device that does not require high temperature and has a uniform and controllable particle size, characterized in that, A plurality of dispersed-phase micro-channels (2) are arranged at intervals along the continuous-phase flow direction.

8. A high-throughput emulsification device without high temperature and with controllable and uniform particle size according to claim 6, characterized in that, The dispersed-phase micro-channels (2) are arranged in parallel with each other.

9. A high-throughput emulsification device that does not require high temperature and has uniform and controllable particle size, characterized in that, The dispersed-phase micro-channels (2) are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the continuous-phase channel.

10. A high-throughput emulsification device that does not require high temperature and has a uniform and controllable particle size, characterized in that, The materials of the upper structural sheet (6) and the lower structural sheet (5) are one of PDMS silica gel layer, stainless steel material, acrylic polymer material and glass.

Images