Study of Fluid Flow in Micro-channel based Devices

Abstract

Microfluidic technology has contributed significantly to the advancement of Bio-MEMS, flow sensors, micromixers and heat sinks for chip cooling. Micro-channels play an important role in development of small scale fluid flow devices and are one of the essential parts of micromachined fluid systems. In addition to connecting different devices, micro-channels and micro-chambers are used in many other fields including biochemical, genetics, physics and industrial applications. In order to design micro-channel, it is very important to understand the mechanism and fundamental differences involved at micro scale fluid flow. This paper presents an analytical study of flow mechanism in micro channels, with a focus on effect of geometric dimensions and flow rate on the various micro-hydrodynamics parameters of trapezoidal shaped micro-channel. Pressure drop, friction-factor and Reynold number calculations for microchannel of different geometrical dimensions are presented. The channel width are in the range of 100–1,000 µm, where as the depth of the channel is taken as 50 microns. Water is used as the working fluid. The study of entrance and exit effects on pressure drop across micro-channel has also been considered. The study provides vital information for design and analysis of micro-channel devices, and is helpful in selection of the possible channel configuration for a specific application.