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Browsing by Author "Froehlicher, Guillaume"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    Buckling of Dielectric Elastomeric Plates for Soft, Electrically Active Microfluidic Pumps
    Tavakol, Behrouz; Bozlar, Michael; Punckt, Christian; Froehlicher, Guillaume; Stone, Howard A.; Aksay, Ilhan A.; Holmes, Douglas P. (The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2014-05-15)
    Elastic instabilities, when properly implemented within soft, mechanical structures, can generate advanced functionality. In this work, we use the voltage-induced buckling of thin, flexible plates to pump fluids within a microfluidic channel. The soft electrodes that enable electrical actuation are compatible with fluids, and undergo large, reversible deformations. We quantified the onset of voltage-induced buckling, and measured the flow rate within the microchannel. This embeddable, flexible microfluidic pump will aid in the generation of new stand-alone microfluidic devices that require a tunable flow rate.
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    Control and Manipulation of Microfluidic Flow via Elastic Deformations
    Holmes, Douglas P.; Tavakol, Behrouz; Froehlicher, Guillaume; Stone, Howard A. (The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013-05-08)
    We utilize elastic deformations via mechanical actuation to control and direct fluid flow within a flexible microfluidic device. The device consists of a microchannel with a flexible arch prepared by the buckling of a thin elastic film. The deflection of the arch can be predicted and controlled using the classical theory of Euler buckling. The fluid flow rate is then controlled by coupling the elastic deformation of the arch to the gap within the microchannel, and the results compared well with analytical predictions from a perturbation calculation and numerical simulations. We demonstrate that placement of these flexible valves in series enables directed flow towards regions of externally applied mechanical stress. The simplicity of the experimental approach provides a general design for advanced functionality in portable microfluidics, self-healing devices, and in situ diagnostics.