Chapter 10
Summary and Conclusion
In the current design process of droplet microfluidic networks, designers conduct
many tasks manually, which requires to consider a large number of design parameters all affecting the functionality. After the design, the functionality is usually
validated by fabricating prototypes and conducting experiments. However, this
current design process based on multiple iterations of refining and testing the design
produces high costs (financially as well as in terms of time).
This book proposed CAD methods, which support or automate tasks in the design
process of droplet microfluidic networks. This “toolbox” includes methods which
are generally applicable for droplet microfluidic networks (Part II) and methods
which are dedicated to passive droplet routing (Part III). Furthermore, this book
proposed an integrated design process for microfluidic networks using passive
droplet routing by combining the methods from Parts II and III.
More precisely, Part II presented
• a simulation method which allows designers to validate their design early in the
design process,
• dimensioning methods which allow designers to check the selected specification
of the components and to automatically dimension these components so that
e.g. desired flow conditions are ensured, as well as
• a design method for meanders which considers the designer’s needs and the
fabrication process.
Part III presented methods dedicated to passive droplet routing. Passive droplet
routing exploits hydrodynamic effects only to route droplets along different paths
and, by this, allows for multiple experiments on a single microfluidic device. In
order to fully exploit the potential of this dedicated routing mechanism, Part III
presented
• a method for designing application-specific architectures, which target a specific
set of experiments and overcome drawbacks of currently considered architectures
as well as
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Grimmer, R. Wille, Designing Droplet Microfluidic Networks,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20713-7_10
137
Summary and Conclusion
In the current design process of droplet microfluidic networks, designers conduct
many tasks manually, which requires to consider a large number of design parameters all affecting the functionality. After the design, the functionality is usually
validated by fabricating prototypes and conducting experiments. However, this
current design process based on multiple iterations of refining and testing the design
produces high costs (financially as well as in terms of time).
This book proposed CAD methods, which support or automate tasks in the design
process of droplet microfluidic networks. This “toolbox” includes methods which
are generally applicable for droplet microfluidic networks (Part II) and methods
which are dedicated to passive droplet routing (Part III). Furthermore, this book
proposed an integrated design process for microfluidic networks using passive
droplet routing by combining the methods from Parts II and III.
More precisely, Part II presented
• a simulation method which allows designers to validate their design early in the
design process,
• dimensioning methods which allow designers to check the selected specification
of the components and to automatically dimension these components so that
e.g. desired flow conditions are ensured, as well as
• a design method for meanders which considers the designer’s needs and the
fabrication process.
Part III presented methods dedicated to passive droplet routing. Passive droplet
routing exploits hydrodynamic effects only to route droplets along different paths
and, by this, allows for multiple experiments on a single microfluidic device. In
order to fully exploit the potential of this dedicated routing mechanism, Part III
presented
• a method for designing application-specific architectures, which target a specific
set of experiments and overcome drawbacks of currently considered architectures
as well as
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Grimmer, R. Wille, Designing Droplet Microfluidic Networks,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20713-7_10
137