Patent ID: 7992587

Claim:
A microfluidic autoregulator comprising: an origin of a fluid; a sink for the fluid; a main flow channel having a main channel length and coupling the origin and the sink; a valve communicated to the main flow channel to selectively control flow of fluid therethrough by continuous partial constriction; and means including a loop split from the main channel having a split-to-valve length, the means being dependent on flow through the main flow channel for creating a pressure differential across the valve to partially activate the valve to control flow of fluid through the main flow channel, wherein the means comprises controlling the flow of fluid through the main flow channel in a continuous nonlinear response with a statically applied pressure from the origin of the fluid, and wherein the valve is characterized by a nonzero saturation flow through the main channel which is tuned by varying the split-to-valve length as a percentage of the main channel length to prevent the valve from completely closing.