Modelling of Microfluidic Channel Staging Dielectrophoretic Disjunction of Particles from Living Cells

Abstract

Microfluidic channel form fluid manipulating units in Lab on chip systems by performing fluidic operations like transportation, sorting, mixing and separation of liquid samples by saving time and economy in a consistent way. A model of a microfluidic channel meant for separation of blood cells into red blood cells and platelets is designed and modelled using Comsol Multiphysics. The approach exploits the effect of an induced Dielectrophoretic (DEP) force on particles moving through a microfluidic channel driven by non-uniform electric field supplied by serial array microelectrodes. The tragectories of blood cells through the microchannel is modelled by applying an actuating voltage of ±3 V and ±5 V. The non-uniform electric field distribution and the DEP force inside the microchannel causes separation of blood cells. We succeeded to plot the trajectories of separated red blood cells and platelets under the influence of DEP force. The size-sensitive separation of particles from blood cells using a microchannel in the presence of non-uniform electric filed is modelled and simulated by changing the strength of applied electric field.

Keywords

• dielectric particle disjunction
• dielectrophoretic force
• dna analysis
• lab on chip
• microfluidic channel
• size sensitive separation