Microfluidics System Flip-Flop Shift Register Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Point of care (POC) microfluidics testing faces challenges in developing reliable, cost-effective devices that are portable and require minimal specialized handling, as they need to be shelf-stable and capable of performing multiple tests without increasing hardware costs, while avoiding contamination and sample degradation.
Innovation Solution
A microfluidics system with a substrate hosting a plurality of pumps and sensors, each with associated transistors controlled by a series of flip-flops, using independent communication lines for pump activation and sensor measurement, reducing noise interference and allowing simultaneous measurement during pumping.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple pumps and sensors are integrated on a single substrate, then the device can perform multiple tests and the hardware cost is reduced, but the noise interference between communication lines increases and signal-to-noise ratio deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The communication lines are segmented into independent groups: pump control lines are separated from sensor measurement lines. This segmentation prevents noise from pump activation signals from interfering with sensor measurements, while still allowing multiple pumps and sensors to be integrated on a single substrate for performing multiple tests.
2Measurement precision
If independent communication lines are used for pump activation and sensor measurement, then the signal-to-noise ratio is enhanced, but the number of external communication pads increases and device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each pump and sensor is assigned a unique address code, allowing a single multi-functional communication interface to selectively control multiple pumps and read from multiple sensors. The communication lines can be dynamically configured to serve different components based on their address codes, reducing the need for dedicated separate pads for each component while maintaining independent signal paths.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple flip-flops are used to control pumps and sensors, then the device can support more components, but the area of the substrate increases and manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple flip-flops are merged into a unified shift register structure that can sequentially control multiple pumps and sensors. By combining the control functions into a single integrated shift register, the substrate area required is reduced compared to using separate flip-flops for each component, while still supporting a larger number of components through the sequential addressing capability.
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided herein is a microfluidics measurement system. The system (100) includes a plurality of pumps and a plurality of sensors; and, for the purpose of selecting a pump from the plurality of pumps and a sensor from the plurality of sensors, each sensor and each pump has an associated transistor (180) and each transistor (180) has an associated flip-flop (190). The flip-flops (190) forms a series or chain of flip-flops. This configuration may allow to limit a number of pads needed to manage the plurality of pumps and sensors in a microfluidics system.