Issue 6, 2016

Inertial focusing in non-rectangular cross-section microchannels and manipulation of accessible focusing positions

Abstract

Inertial focusing in microfluidic channels has been extensively studied experimentally and theoretically, which has led to various applications including microfluidic separation and enrichment of cells. Inertial lift forces are strongly dependent on the flow velocity profile and the channel cross-sectional shape. However, the channel cross-sections studied have been limited to circles and rectangles. We studied inertial focusing in non-rectangular cross-section channels to manipulate the flow profile and thus the inertial focusing of microparticles. The location and number of focusing positions are analyzed with varying cross-sectional shapes and Reynolds number. We found that the broken symmetry of non-equilateral triangular channels leads to the shifting of focusing positions with varying Reynolds number. Non-rectangular channels have unique mapping of the focusing positions and the corresponding basins of attraction. By connecting channels with different cross-sectional shapes, we were able to manipulate the accessible focusing positions and achieve focusing of microparticles to a single stream with ∼99% purity.

Graphical abstract: Inertial focusing in non-rectangular cross-section microchannels and manipulation of accessible focusing positions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Sep 2015
Accepted
23 Jan 2016
First published
25 Jan 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Lab Chip, 2016,16, 992-1001

Inertial focusing in non-rectangular cross-section microchannels and manipulation of accessible focusing positions

J. Kim, J. Lee, C. Wu, S. Nam, D. Di Carlo and W. Lee, Lab Chip, 2016, 16, 992 DOI: 10.1039/C5LC01100K

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