THE PHENOMENON OF TRANSPIRATION, WHICH COMBINES EVAPORATION AND CAPILLARITY, COULD BE USED TO
AUTONOMOUSLY AND SPONTANEOUSLY DRIVE FLOWS IN PUMP-LESS MICROFLUIDICS. WHILE PREVIOUS STUDIES
HAVE SHOWN DIVERSE EXPERIMENTAL APPLICATIONS, NO COMPREHENSIVE THEORETICAL ANALYSIS HAS BEEN
DONE ON THESE PROCESSES. HERE WE PERFORM PARAMETRIC STUDIES ON THE SYSTEM, WITH EMPHASIS ON
STUDYING THE FEASIBILITY OF A LOW-COST VERSION OF TRANSPIRATION-BASED MICROFLUIDICS, WHICH COULD
BE FABRICATED USING INEXPENSIVE AND READILY AVAILABLE MATERIALS (E.G. COTTON THREADS AND TISSUE
PAPERS). OUR ANALYSIS IS PARTICULARLY FOCUSED ON THE GEOMETRIC VARIATION OF THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING
THE RATIO BETWEEN CROSS SECTIONAL AREA OF CAPILARRITY PARTS AND EVAPORATION PARTS, AS WELL AS THE
WIND VELOCITY AT THE INTERFACE BETWEEN THE EVAPORATOR AND ITS SURROUNDING AMBIENCE. OUR
RESULTS SERVE AS GENERAL DESIGN GUIDES FOR LOW-COST TRANSPIRATION-BASED MICROFLUIDICS.
|