Cross-Sectional Dimension Dependence of Electroosmotic Flow in Fractal Treelike Rectangular Microchannel Network

Numerical Studies on the Thermal Performances of Electroosmotic Flow in Y-Shaped Microchannel Heat Sink

This paper numerically studies the thermal performances of electroosmotic flow (EOF) in a symmetric Y-shaped microchannel heat sink (MCHS) having a constant total channel surface area, that is, constant convective heat transfer area. It is found that the average convective heat transfer coefficient of EOF increases with the increasing driven voltage, which is attributed to the increase of EOF flowrate with the increasing driven voltage. However, the maximum MCHS temperature shows an increasing after decreasing trend with the driven voltage owing to the dramatically increasing Joule heating when the voltage is large enough. Further, both the maximum MCHS temperature and average convective heat transfer coefficient are sensitive to the cross-sectional dimensions of the Y-shaped microchannels. The thermal performances of EOF in the Y-shaped MCHS show a strengthening to weakening trend with the increasing daughter-to-parent channel diameter ratio of the Y-shaped microchannel with circular cross-sectional shape, and show a similar strengthening to weakening trend with the increasing daughter-to-parent channel width ratio and the increasing microchannel height of the Y-shaped microchannel with rectangular cross-sectional shape. These cross-sectional dimension dependences of thermal performances are related to the increasing to decreasing trend of EOF flowrate changing with the microchannel cross-sectional dimensions.

Dielectric Characterization and Separation Optimization of Infiltrating Ductal Adenocarcinoma via Insulator-Dielectrophoresis

The dielectrophoretic separation of infiltrating ductal adenocarcinoma cells (ADCs) from isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in a ~1.4 mm long Y-shaped microfluidic channel with semi-circular insulating constrictions is numerically investigated. In this work, ADCs (breast cancer cells) and PBMCs' electrophysiological properties were iteratively extracted through the fitting of a single-shell model with the frequency-conductivity data obtained from AC microwell experiments. In the numerical computation, the gradient of the electric field required to generate the necessary dielectrophoretic force within the constriction zone was provided through the application of electric potential across the whole fluidic channel. By adjusting the difference in potentials between the global inlet and outlet of the fluidic device, the minimum (effective) potential difference with the optimum particle transmission probability for ADCs was found. The radius of the semi-circular constrictions at which the effective potential difference was swept to obtain the optimum constriction size was also obtained. Independent particle discretization analysis was also conducted to underscore the accuracy of the numerical solution. The numerical results, which were obtained by the integration of fluid flow, electric current, and particle tracing module in COMSOL v5.3, reveal that PBMCs can be maximally separated from ADCs using a DC power source of 50 V. The article also discusses recirculation or wake formation behavior at high DC voltages (>100 V) even when sorting of cells are achieved. This result is the first step towards the production of a supplementary or confirmatory test device to detect early breast cancer non-invasively.