Batra, Jaskirat Singh (2015-12). Advanced 3D Printing to Fabricate Microfluidic Devices for Cancer and Stem Cells Co-culture Study in Space. Master's Thesis.
Thesis
Two different type of microfluidic devices were designed, fabricated and tested to capture the microspheres. The passive device seems to be more reliable because of no possibility of damage, whereas the thin film in active device got ruptured when too much pressure was applied to the valve control layer. The passive design was able to capture microspheres of different sizes. Majority of microspheres captured were between 150-175 microns. The capture efficiency for this device was slightly lower than expected at 26%. This was found to be due to the long channel length which leads to pressure drop towards the end of the channel. In addition, capturing of microspheres causes high resistance to flow towards the end of channel. To the best of my knowledge, this is a first kind of device to capture microspheres at this size range of 125-215 microns. The proof of concept for capturing large particle size >100um and broad size distribution has been demonstrated. The device will be further improved by optimizing the dimensions.
