Three-dimensional Flow Structure inside a Plastic Microfluidic Element

미소유체요소 내부유동의 3차원 측정 및 수치해석

A three-dimensional inlet flow structure inside a microfluidic element has been investigated using a micro-PIV(particle image velocimetry) measurement as well as a numerical analysis. The present study employs a state-of-art micro-PIV system which consists of epi-fluorescence microscope, 620nm diameter fluorescent seed particles and an 8-bit megapixel CCD camera. For the numerical analysis, a commercial software CFD-ACE+(V6.6) was employed for comparison with experimental data. Fixed pressure boundary condition and a 39900 structured grid system was used for numerical analysis. Velocity vector fields with a resolution of $6.7{\times}6.7{\mu}m$ has been obtained, and the attention has been paid on the effect of varying measurement conditions of particle diameter and particle concentration on the resulting PIV results. In this study, the microfluidic elements were fabricated on plastic chips by means of MEMS processes and a subsequent melding process.