Microfluidic Cartridge Alignment for Stable Capacitive Pumping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Microfluidic systems with pumps and valves face challenges in alignment, stability, portability, manufacturability, and sterilizability, particularly in organ-on-chip bioreactors and microclinical analyzers, due to issues with pump and valve fluidics and their actuators, as well as connections and connections thereof.
Innovation Solution
A fluidic device with a body having channels for fluid transfer, an actuator for controlling flow rates, and a registration mechanism for precise alignment, along with capacitive pumps and valves that reduce flow and pressure transients, and a modular design allowing for easy assembly and sterilization, including a rotary planar peristaltic micropump and rotary planar valve configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If pump and valve actuators are integrated into the fluidic chip, then device complexity is reduced and ease of manufacture is improved, but alignment precision and manufacturing precision become more difficult to achieve
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into modular components: a fluidic chip containing channels and a separate actuator assembly with rolling members. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured and tested independently, then assembled together, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and alignment precision by enabling separate optimization of each module's fabrication process
Solution Approach 2:
A support structure with registration features acts as an intermediary between the fluidic chip and the actuator. This intermediary component provides precise alignment references and mechanical coupling, enabling accurate positioning of the actuator relative to the fluidic chip channels without requiring direct integration, thus maintaining both ease of manufacture and manufacturing precision
2Ease of operation
If the fluidic system uses multiple connections and actuators, then functionality and control precision are improved, but device complexity and difficulty of sterilization increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple fluidic channels and their corresponding actuators are merged into a single integrated cartridge assembly. This combining reduces the number of separate connections and interfaces required, simplifying the overall system while maintaining the ability to independently control each channel, thus improving ease of operation without proportionally increasing device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The fluidic chip and actuator assembly are designed as a disposable cartridge that can be sterilized and then discarded. This approach eliminates the need for complex sterilization procedures for reusable components with multiple connections, as the entire assembly can be sterilized as a unit and then replaced, reducing device complexity while maintaining control precision
3Measurement precision
If the pump uses rolling members to occlude channels, then flow control precision is improved, but pulsatility and pressure transients increase
Solution Approach 1:
The rolling members occlude channels in a sequential, periodic manner as the actuator rotates. This periodic action creates controlled flow pulses that can be precisely timed and regulated, improving flow control precision while the periodic nature allows for smoothing strategies to reduce overall pulsatility and pressure transients in the fluidic system
4Ease of manufacture
If the system uses a modular cartridge design, then ease of assembly and sterilization are improved, but manufacturing precision and alignment stability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Registration features such as protrusions and recesses are pre-formed during the manufacturing of the fluidic chip and support structure. This preliminary action ensures that when the modular components are assembled, they automatically align with high precision without requiring complex adjustment procedures, thus maintaining both ease of assembly and alignment stability
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment function is achieved through precisely engineered geometric features (protrusions fitting into recesses) rather than through complex mechanical adjustment mechanisms. This substitution of simple geometric interlocking for complex mechanical alignment systems enables easy assembly while maintaining stable and precise alignment of the modular components
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables precise and stable fluid control, reduces pulsatility and pressure transients, and facilitates easy assembly and sterilization, enhancing the performance and reliability of microfluidic systems in bioreactors and analyzers.
Implementation Method 1
capacitive pumps and multi-throw valves and pump-valve systems
Implementation Method 2
a fluidic chip registration means formed on the first surface for aligning the fluidic chip with a support structure
Implementation Method 3
rotary planar peristaltic micropump
Implementation Method 4
capacitive pumps
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a cartridge of a fluidic device. The fluidic device includes a fluidic chip, a body having a first surface and an opposite, second surface, one or more channels formed in the body in fluidic communications with input ports and output ports for transferring one or more fluids between the input ports and the output ports, and a fluidic chip registration means formed on the first surface for aligning the fluidic chip with a support structure; and an actuator configured to engage with the one or more channels at the second surface of the body for selectively and individually transferring the one or more fluids through the one or more channels from at least one of the input ports to at least one of the output ports at desired flowrates.