Rapid Fabrication of Low-Cost Thermal Bubble-Driven Micro-Pumps
Thermal bubble-driven micro-pumps are an upcoming actuation technology that can be directly integrated into micro/mesofluidic channels to displace fluid without any moving parts. These pumps consist of high power micro-resistors, which we term thermal micro-pump (TMP) resistors, that locally boil fl...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Micromachines |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/13/10/1634 |
| _version_ | 1797471256123015168 |
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| author | Brandon Hayes Lawrence Smith Heiko Kabutz Austin C. Hayes Gregory L. Whiting Kaushik Jayaram Robert MacCurdy |
| author_facet | Brandon Hayes Lawrence Smith Heiko Kabutz Austin C. Hayes Gregory L. Whiting Kaushik Jayaram Robert MacCurdy |
| author_sort | Brandon Hayes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Thermal bubble-driven micro-pumps are an upcoming actuation technology that can be directly integrated into micro/mesofluidic channels to displace fluid without any moving parts. These pumps consist of high power micro-resistors, which we term thermal micro-pump (TMP) resistors, that locally boil fluid at the resistor surface in microseconds creating a vapor bubble to perform mechanical work. Conventional fabrication approaches of thermal bubble-driven micro-pumps and associated microfluidics have utilized semiconductor micro-fabrication techniques requiring expensive tooling with long turn around times on the order of weeks to months. In this study, we present a low-cost approach to rapidly fabricate and test thermal bubble-driven micro-pumps with associated microfluidics utilizing commercial substrates (indium tin oxide, ITO, and fluorine doped tin oxide, FTO, coated glass) and tooling (laser cutter). The presented fabrication approach greatly reduces the turn around time from weeks/months for conventional micro-fabrication to a matter of hours/days allowing acceleration of thermal bubble-driven micro-pump research and development (R&D) learning cycles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:46:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9acb3029496a4a0695a8d06ed718f79b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-666X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:46:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Micromachines |
| spelling | doaj.art-9acb3029496a4a0695a8d06ed718f79b2023-11-24T01:21:53ZengMDPI AGMicromachines2072-666X2022-09-011310163410.3390/mi13101634Rapid Fabrication of Low-Cost Thermal Bubble-Driven Micro-PumpsBrandon Hayes0Lawrence Smith1Heiko Kabutz2Austin C. Hayes3Gregory L. Whiting4Kaushik Jayaram5Robert MacCurdy6Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USAPaul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USAPaul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USAPaul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USAPaul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USAPaul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USAPaul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USAThermal bubble-driven micro-pumps are an upcoming actuation technology that can be directly integrated into micro/mesofluidic channels to displace fluid without any moving parts. These pumps consist of high power micro-resistors, which we term thermal micro-pump (TMP) resistors, that locally boil fluid at the resistor surface in microseconds creating a vapor bubble to perform mechanical work. Conventional fabrication approaches of thermal bubble-driven micro-pumps and associated microfluidics have utilized semiconductor micro-fabrication techniques requiring expensive tooling with long turn around times on the order of weeks to months. In this study, we present a low-cost approach to rapidly fabricate and test thermal bubble-driven micro-pumps with associated microfluidics utilizing commercial substrates (indium tin oxide, ITO, and fluorine doped tin oxide, FTO, coated glass) and tooling (laser cutter). The presented fabrication approach greatly reduces the turn around time from weeks/months for conventional micro-fabrication to a matter of hours/days allowing acceleration of thermal bubble-driven micro-pump research and development (R&D) learning cycles.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/13/10/1634bubble dynamicsmicrofluidicslow-costphase changeinertial pumping |
| spellingShingle | Brandon Hayes Lawrence Smith Heiko Kabutz Austin C. Hayes Gregory L. Whiting Kaushik Jayaram Robert MacCurdy Rapid Fabrication of Low-Cost Thermal Bubble-Driven Micro-Pumps Micromachines bubble dynamics microfluidics low-cost phase change inertial pumping |
| title | Rapid Fabrication of Low-Cost Thermal Bubble-Driven Micro-Pumps |
| title_full | Rapid Fabrication of Low-Cost Thermal Bubble-Driven Micro-Pumps |
| title_fullStr | Rapid Fabrication of Low-Cost Thermal Bubble-Driven Micro-Pumps |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rapid Fabrication of Low-Cost Thermal Bubble-Driven Micro-Pumps |
| title_short | Rapid Fabrication of Low-Cost Thermal Bubble-Driven Micro-Pumps |
| title_sort | rapid fabrication of low cost thermal bubble driven micro pumps |
| topic | bubble dynamics microfluidics low-cost phase change inertial pumping |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/13/10/1634 |
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