A comparative numerical design of the static and electrostatic micromixers

Abstract

Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a microfluidic system aiming to improve the diagnosis and treatment of various forms of diseases with several applications in biological science and chemical engineering. LOC encompasses different functions in a small chip, such as the mixing, reaction, separation, and analysis. Micromixer as the most important part of the LOC is responsible of mixing two or more samples for analysis. The design of the micromixers has a key asset in their mixture ability. This study aimed to compare various designs of the static and electrostatic micromixers using computational fluid dynamics. The results revealed the advantage of electrostatic micromixers compared to the static ones in mixing. The results were interpreted as the velocity and concentration profiles, and were compared. This study could well compare different designs of the micromixers and show how design can be an effective parameter in mixture of the fluids in a LOC. The results of the concurrent study have practical implications in designing of the micromixers with higher mixture ability.