A Lego-like reconfigurable microfluidic stabilizer system with tunable fluidic RC constants

Abstract

Abstract In microfluidic systems, it is important to maintain flow stability to execute various functions such as chemical reaction, cells transportation, or liquid injection. Conventionally, the design and fabrication of a fluidic stabilizer rely on the soft lithography paradigm, which has inherent limitations in a number of ways, such as only capable of planar design and no reconfigurability. Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, provides an alternative solution to these issues. In this work, we present a Lego-like microfluidic stabilizer system based on 3D printing, and demonstrate its capability to achieve twelve fluidic RC constants to tune transient behaviors of microfluidic systems. A simplified three-element circuit model is used to characterize the system and as a prediction model for system design. In order to evaluate the system’s effectiveness, droplet generation experiments are conducted and discussed. Results show that the microfluidic stabilizer system could significantly increase droplet diameter uniformity. This system provides a new venue for microfluidic stabilization with tunable RC constants, and its reconfigurable design could be utilized in a variety of applications requiring finetuning the fluid flow behaviors in microfluidic devices.