Fabrication of an Fluid Circuit for Equal Filling of a Well Array

Corinne S. Lengsfeld, Rachel S. Fulstone, Matt J. Opgenorth

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Denver, Denver CO 80208-1500.

DOI: 10.4236/eng.2012.410077                

Abstract

Frequently in fluidic circuits there is a need to fill an array of wells. Methods for ensuring equal filling rates have hindered the application of microtechnology to cell culture applications directed to multiwell incubation. The greatest precision of equal fill volume to each well along a row occurred when the channels were extended into the third dimension, whereas, a traditional configuration is planar. This type of configuration utilizes vertical potential energy changes in cooperation with geometric restrictions. This paper presents the 3-D geometry that has five equally spaced wells to sustain equal filling. Moreover the fabrication process used to bond the multi-layer structure into a single 3-D circuit is presented.

Keywords

Microfluidics; Incubator; Diffusion Bonding

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	N. T. Nguyen and S. T. Vereley, “Fundamentals and Applications of Microfluidics,” Microelectromechanical Systems, Artech House, Boston, 2001.
[2]	P. J. Lee, P. J. Hung and L. P. Lee, “Microfluidic Cell Culture Array for On-Chip Cell Biology in Microtechnology,” 3rd IEEE/EMBS Special Topic Conference on Microtechnologies in Medicine and Biology, Oahu, 12-15 May 2005, pp. 382-284.
[3]	P. J. Lee, et al., “Microfluidic System for Automated Cell-Based Assays,” Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation, Vol. 12, No. 6, 2007, pp. 363-367. doi:10.1016/j.jala.2007.07.001
[4]	S. Cookson, et al., “Monitoring Dynamics of Single-Cell Gene Expression over Multiple Cell Cycles,” Molecular Systems Biology, Vol. 1, 2005, Article ID: 20050024. doi:10.1038/msb4100032
[5]	D. J. Beebe, G. A. Mensing and G. M. Walker, “Physics and Applications of Microfluidics in Biology,” Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 4, 2002, pp. 261286. doi:10.1146/annurev.bioeng.4.112601.125916
[6]	J. Pihl, J. Sinclair, M. Karlsson and O. Orwar, “Microfluidics for Cell-Based Assays,” Materials Today, Vol. 8, No. 12, 2005, pp. 46-51.
[7]	S. K. Sia and G. M. Whitesides, “Microfluidic Devices Fabricated in Poly(Dimethylsiloxane) for Biological Studies,” ELECTROPHORESIS, Vol. 24, No. 21, 2003, pp. 3563-3576. doi:10.1002/elps.200305584
[8]	T. Vilkner, D. Janasek and A. Manz, “Micro Total Analysis Systems. Recent Developments,” Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 76, No. 12, 2004, pp. 3373-3386. doi:10.1021/ac040063q
[9]	A. Khademhosseini, et al., “Microscale Technologies for Tissue Engineering and Biology,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 103, No. 8, 2006, pp. 2480-2487. doi:10.1073/pnas.0507681102
[10]	S. Raty, et al., “Embryonic Development in the Mouse Is Enhanced via Microchannel Culture,” Lab on a Chip, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2004, pp. 186-190. doi:10.1039/b316437c
[11]	R. Fulstone, C. M. Coughlan, J. E. Wiktorwicz and C. S. Lengsfeld, “Micro Liter Incubator Array for Understanding Culture Condition Selectivity,” Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, Vol. 3, 2012, pp. 87-91.
[12]	L. M. Levine, “Combining Additive and Subtractive Techniques in the Design and Fabrication of Microfluidic Devices,” Nanotech, Vol. 3, 2007, pp. 385-588.
[13]	P. J. Hung, et al., “Continuous Perfusion Microfluidic Cell Culture Array for High-Throughput Cell-Based Assays,” Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Vol. 89, No. 1, 2005, pp. 1-8. doi:10.1002/bit.20289
[14]	M. J. Opgenorth, W. E. McDermott, P. Laz and C. S. Lengsfeld, “A Combined Probabilistic and Optimization Approach for Improved Chemical Mixing Systems Design,” Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 6, 2011, pp. 643-652. doi:10.4236/eng.2011.36077
[15]	M. J. Opgenorth, W. E. McDermott and C. S. Lengsfeld, “Design Process for Coupling Optimization and Probability with Computational Fluid Dynamics,” Atomization and Sprays, Vol. 21, No. 2, 2011, pp. 121-126. doi:10.1615/AtomizSpr.2011002778
[16]	C. Ageorges and Y. Lin, “Fusion Bonding of Polymer Composites: From Basic Mechanisms to Process Optimisation,” Springer-Verlag, London, 2002.