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• Horiuchi, T
• Hayashi, K
• Seyama, M
• Inoue, S
• Tamechika, E
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• Horiuchi, T
• Hayashi, K
• Seyama, M
• Inoue, S
• Tamechika, E
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• Horiuchi, T
• Hayashi, K
• Seyama, M
• Inoue, S
• Tamechika, E

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Sensors 2012, 12(10), 14053-14067; doi:10.3390/s121014053

Article

Cooperative Suction by Vertical Capillary Array Pump for Controlling Flow Profiles of Microfluidic Sensor Chips

Tsutomu Horiuchi* , Katsuyoshi Hayashi* , Michiko Seyama, Suzuyo Inoue and Emi Tamechika

NTT Microsystem Integration Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), Morinosato-Wakamiya, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa 2430198, Japan

* Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 23 August 2012; in revised form: 27 September 2012 / Accepted: 10 October 2012 / Published: 18 October 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microfluidic Devices)

Download PDF Full-Text [677 KB, Updated Version, uploaded 24 October 2012 10:32 CEST]

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Abstract: A passive pump consisting of integrated vertical capillaries has been developed for a microfluidic chip as an useful component with an excellent flow volume and flow rate. A fluidic chip built into a passive pump was used by connecting the bottoms of all the capillaries to a top surface consisting of a thin layer channel in the microfluidic chip where the thin layer channel depth was smaller than the capillary radius. As a result the vertical capillaries drew fluid cooperatively rather than independently, thus exerting the maximum suction efficiency at every instance. This meant that a flow rate was realized that exhibited little variation and without any external power or operation. A microfluidic chip built into this passive pump had the ability to achieve a quasi-steady rather than a rapidly decreasing flow rate, which is a universal flow characteristic in an ordinary capillary.

Keywords: microfluidics; capillary; flow rate; passive pump

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