Development of an Automated Optical Inspection System for Rapidly and Precisely Measuring Dimensions of Embedded Microchannel Structures in Transparent Bonded Chips

This study aimed to develop an automated optical inspection (AOI) system that can rapidly and precisely measure the dimensions of microchannels embedded inside a transparent polymeric substrate, and can eventually be used on the production line of a factory. The AOI system is constructed based on Sn...

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Huvudupphovsmän: Pin-Chuan Chen, Ya-Ting Lin, Chi-Minh Truong, Pai-Shan Chen, Huihua-Kenny Chiang
Materialtyp: Artikel
Språk:English
Publicerad: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
Serie:Sensors
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Länkar:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/3/698
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author Pin-Chuan Chen
Ya-Ting Lin
Chi-Minh Truong
Pai-Shan Chen
Huihua-Kenny Chiang
author_facet Pin-Chuan Chen
Ya-Ting Lin
Chi-Minh Truong
Pai-Shan Chen
Huihua-Kenny Chiang
author_sort Pin-Chuan Chen
collection DOAJ
description This study aimed to develop an automated optical inspection (AOI) system that can rapidly and precisely measure the dimensions of microchannels embedded inside a transparent polymeric substrate, and can eventually be used on the production line of a factory. The AOI system is constructed based on Snell’s law. The concept holds that, when light travels through two transparent media (air and the microfluidic chip transparent material), by capturing the parallel refracted light from a light source that went through the microchannel using a camera with a telecentric lens, the image can be analyzed using formulas derived from Snell’s law to measure the dimensions of the microchannel cross-section. Through the NI LabVIEW 2018 SP1 programming interface, we programmed this system to automatically analyze the captured image and acquire all the needed data. The system then processes these data using custom-developed formulas to calculate the height and width measurements of the microchannel cross-sections and presents the results on the human–machine interface (HMI). In this study, a single and straight microchannel with a cross-sectional area of 300 μm × 300 μm and length of 44 mm was micromachined and sealed with another polymeric substrate by a solvent bonding method for experimentations. With this system, 45 cross-sectional areas along the straight microchannel were measured within 20 s, and experiment results showed that the average measured error was less than 2%.
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spelling doaj.art-a0717a2b38204c9882ab4e97769e0c372023-12-03T14:01:08ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202021-01-0121369810.3390/s21030698Development of an Automated Optical Inspection System for Rapidly and Precisely Measuring Dimensions of Embedded Microchannel Structures in Transparent Bonded ChipsPin-Chuan Chen0Ya-Ting Lin1Chi-Minh Truong2Pai-Shan Chen3Huihua-Kenny Chiang4Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 106, TaiwanDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 106, TaiwanDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 106, TaiwanGraduate Institute of Toxicology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, TaiwanInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 112, TaiwanThis study aimed to develop an automated optical inspection (AOI) system that can rapidly and precisely measure the dimensions of microchannels embedded inside a transparent polymeric substrate, and can eventually be used on the production line of a factory. The AOI system is constructed based on Snell’s law. The concept holds that, when light travels through two transparent media (air and the microfluidic chip transparent material), by capturing the parallel refracted light from a light source that went through the microchannel using a camera with a telecentric lens, the image can be analyzed using formulas derived from Snell’s law to measure the dimensions of the microchannel cross-section. Through the NI LabVIEW 2018 SP1 programming interface, we programmed this system to automatically analyze the captured image and acquire all the needed data. The system then processes these data using custom-developed formulas to calculate the height and width measurements of the microchannel cross-sections and presents the results on the human–machine interface (HMI). In this study, a single and straight microchannel with a cross-sectional area of 300 μm × 300 μm and length of 44 mm was micromachined and sealed with another polymeric substrate by a solvent bonding method for experimentations. With this system, 45 cross-sectional areas along the straight microchannel were measured within 20 s, and experiment results showed that the average measured error was less than 2%.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/3/698automated optical inspection (AOI)inspection of bonded microfluidic chipmachine visionmicrofluidics
spellingShingle Pin-Chuan Chen
Ya-Ting Lin
Chi-Minh Truong
Pai-Shan Chen
Huihua-Kenny Chiang
Development of an Automated Optical Inspection System for Rapidly and Precisely Measuring Dimensions of Embedded Microchannel Structures in Transparent Bonded Chips
Sensors
automated optical inspection (AOI)
inspection of bonded microfluidic chip
machine vision
microfluidics
title Development of an Automated Optical Inspection System for Rapidly and Precisely Measuring Dimensions of Embedded Microchannel Structures in Transparent Bonded Chips
title_full Development of an Automated Optical Inspection System for Rapidly and Precisely Measuring Dimensions of Embedded Microchannel Structures in Transparent Bonded Chips
title_fullStr Development of an Automated Optical Inspection System for Rapidly and Precisely Measuring Dimensions of Embedded Microchannel Structures in Transparent Bonded Chips
title_full_unstemmed Development of an Automated Optical Inspection System for Rapidly and Precisely Measuring Dimensions of Embedded Microchannel Structures in Transparent Bonded Chips
title_short Development of an Automated Optical Inspection System for Rapidly and Precisely Measuring Dimensions of Embedded Microchannel Structures in Transparent Bonded Chips
title_sort development of an automated optical inspection system for rapidly and precisely measuring dimensions of embedded microchannel structures in transparent bonded chips
topic automated optical inspection (AOI)
inspection of bonded microfluidic chip
machine vision
microfluidics
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/3/698
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