Patent ID: 8308926

Claim:
An apparatus for transporting fluid, comprising: a housing having a channel with an inlet and an outlet, and a return flowpath from outlet to inlet; a fluid contained within the channel and the return flowpath; a plurality of dielectric particles located within the channel, wherein fluid movement is induced by the viscous drag of dielectrophoretically forced particles; a first array of electrodes arranged in a first pattern, a second array of electrodes arranged in a second pattern, and a third array of electrodes arranged in a third pattern, said first, second and third patterns being interdigitated into at least one pattern of a first electrode, a second electrode, and a third electrode, the interdigitated pattern being proximate to the channel, and a three phase source of electrical voltage at a frequency, the first phase being provided to said first array, the second phase being provided to said second array, the third phase being provided to said third array, each phase being separated by a phase angle from each other phase; wherein application of said source to said first array, said second array, and said third array applies a traveling-wave dielectrophoretic force on the particles within the channel, and fluid exiting the outlet of the channel flows into the return flowpath to be received at the inlet of the channel.