Arrayed microfluidic actuation for active sorting of fluid bed particulates

Abstract

Fluidic actuation offers a facile method to move large quantities of small solids, often referred to as fluid-bed movement. Applications for fluid bed processing are integral to many fields including petrochemical, petroleum, chemical, pharmaceutical, biochemical, environmental, defense, and medical. Thermal vapor microbubbles have been shown to be a low power input with high work output fluidic actuation technique with demonstrated commercial applications in ink jet printing and optical switching. This thesis further develops microbubble actuation (BA) as an arrayed particulate actuation technology for active sorting in particulate fluid beds. Numerical and analytical models of flows, forces, and fields affecting a tBA-based system are presented. The design and fabrication of an arrayed pBA-powered device are delineated with notation of specifications that may focus future design iterations. Performance testing and characterization of CpBA technology, including over a hundred in-plane and out-of-plane nucleation site geometries, serve as the impetus for the technical guidelines that are presented, which include a detailed comparison of in-plane and out-of-plane nucleation site geometry performance.