Patent ID: 8820357
Filing Date: 2014-09-02
Classification: B01L,F15C,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method for controlling a microfluidic device, comprising the steps of: creating an all-fluidic micromechanical control circuit having at least one control circuit input for accepting at least one input stream of gaseous or liquid bubbles disposed within an immiscible liquid, the input stream being configured to be representational of the input signal for the control circuit, and at least one control circuit output for discharging a control circuit output stream of gaseous or liquid bubbles disposed within the immiscible liquid, the output stream being configured to be representational of the control input for the microfluidic device, wherein the all-fluidic micromechanical control circuit is a configuration of microchannels having interconnections, the microchannels and microchannel interconnections being configured as a circuit for generating the control input for the microfluidic device by transforming the input stream into an output stream of gaseous or liquid bubbles disposed within the immiscible liquid, the configuration of the output stream being representational of the control input for the microfluidic device, the microchannels and microchannel interconnections being configured so that the flow, through the microchannels, of the input stream of gaseous or liquid bubbles disposed in an immiscible liquid is controlled by at least one of the group selected from: a resistive or constrictive force caused by interaction between the received input stream of bubbles and the geometry of the microchannels, a resistive or constrictive force caused by interaction between the received input stream of bubbles and the configuration of the microchannel interconnections, and the interaction between bubbles from the received input stream of bubbles and other bubbles; and providing the control circuit output stream as a control input for the microfluidic device.