3-D Imaging in a Chaotic Micromixer Using Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM)

공초점 현미경을 이용한 마이크로믹서 내부의 3차원 이미지화

3-D visualization using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) in a chaotic micromixer was performed as a reproduction experiment and the feasibility of 3-0 imaging technique in the microscale was confirmed. For diagonal micromixer (DM) and two types of staggered herringbone micromixers (SHM) designed by Whitesides et al., to verify the evolution of mixing, cross sectional images are reconstructed at the end of every cycle. In a DM, clockwise rotational flow motion generated by diagonal ridges placed on the floor of micromixer is observed and this motion makes the fluid commingle. On the contrary, there are two rotational flow structures in the SHM and the centers of rotation exchange their position each other every half cycle because of the V shape of ridges varying their orientation every half cycle. Local rotational flow and local extensional flow generated by the complicate ridge pattern make the flow be chaotic and accelerate the mixing of fluid. The dominant parameter that influences on the mixing characteristic of SHM is not the length of micromixer but the number of ridges under the same flow configurations.