Date of Award

1-1-2022

Publication Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.Sc.

Department

Mechanical, Automotive, and Materials Engineering

Keywords

3D-printed, Microfluidic, Particle manipulation, Particle mixing

Supervisor

M.J. Adamed

Supervisor

S. Rondeau-Gagné

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess

Abstract

In past decades, microfluidic devices have been widely used in chemical and biological fields. On the microscale, the fluid will be laminar fluid due to the low Reynolds number, which makes it challenging to cause mixing in the microfluidic device. Thus, mixing performance is an extremely significant property for microfluidic devices. In this thesis, a 3D-printed electrophoresis-based particle manipulator has been developed to increase particle-mixing performance. In this thesis to enhance mixing a new design is proposed utilizing a 3D rotating electrical field to enhance mixing. In order to manipulate the particle, four electrodes will be placed in different directions, and a different phase alternating potential will be applied. Compared with previous research, a 3D-printed particle manipulator presented in this thesis is easy to implement, time-saving, and cost-effective. A finite element analysis tool was used to simulate the numerical model to trace the particle movement and to defend geometric parameters and characteristics. This method can achieve an approximately 80 percent mixing efficiency, which is seven times greater than diffusion mixing. Several operating and design properties have been investigated, such as amplitude, frequency of electrical potential, particle size, particle charge, electrode width, and Reynolds number to find out the best conditions for enhanced mixing.

Download

Share

COinS