Patent ID: 8480974

Claim:
A device for controlling a flow of fluids through n=2 m microfluidic channels, m being at least 3, the device comprising: a substrate including the microfluidic channels therein, each channel having in contact points; a cooling element configured to cool fluid disposed in the contact points of each of the n microfluidic channels; a respective heating element corresponding to each contact point, each heating element be configured to heat fluid disposed at the respective contact point; m control lines, each control line being associated with a respective one of the contact points of each of the n microfluidic channels, each control line being operable to activate and deactivate the n heating elements corresponding to the respective n contact points, each control line comprising a pair of conductor paths including: a first conductor path structure that is in contact with a first half of the respective n heating elements associated with the respective control line so as to activate the first half of the respective n heating elements when the respective control line is set to a switching status TRUE, and a second conductor path structure that is in contact with a second half of the respective n heating elements associated with the respective control line so as to activate the second half of the respective n heating elements when the respective control line is set to a switching status FALSE.