64
5 Designing Meanders
The Meander Designer generates the desired design of the channel and outputs
this design in the widely applicable, vector-based SVG file format (allowing to
download the design and, afterwards, to import into design tools such as AutoCAD,
Solid Edge, or Inkscape). This allows to integrate and connect the meander channel
into the overall design and gives designers the highest flexibility with respect to
the applied design process as well as to the used fabrication technology (i.e., it is
applicable for soft lithography, milling, 3D-printing, paper microfluidics, etc.).
In order to confirm the compliance of the obtained designs (i.e., to validate that
fabrications of the generated designs indeed realize the desired specification), a set
of meanders was generated and fabricated for the following two case studies:
• Realizing dedicated fluidic resistances: This case study considers the application
of generating meanders with a dedicated fluidic resistance ranging from 10 to
50 mbar/(μl/min). To this end, the proposed method was used to generate the
designs, which were afterwards fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).
Then, their actual fluidic resistances were systematically measured and compared
to the desired values.
• Realizing dedicated mixing ratios of fluids: This case study considers the application of generating fluidic mixtures of different ratios. Therefore, a design was
used containing two generated meanders with a dedicated resistance ratio, which,
eventually, resulted in the desired mixing ratio. The mixing ratios 20:20, 40:20,
30:10, and 40:10 were tested, which also represent the used fluidic resistances in
mbar/(μl/min) of the two meanders. The resulting designs were fabricated and,
afterwards, the mixing ratios were measured. Note that the application from this
case study is not directly related to droplet microfluidic networks but also relative
meander channel resistances can be important for realizing droplet microfluidic
networks.
The obtained measurements taken from the fabricated devices confirm that the
meanders automatically generated by the Meander Designer indeed yield designs
that can directly be used as entities in the overall design.
The remainder of this chapter is structured as follows: First, Sect. 5.1 states the
problem description. Afterwards, the method addressing this problem is presented
in Sect. 5.2. Section 5.3 describes the setup of the case studies, which are conducted
in order to confirm the compliance of the generated designs. Section 5.4 presents the
results of the two case studies including the, respectively, conducted measurement
results. Finally, Sect. 5.5 provides a conclusion.
5.1 Problem Description and Proposed Approach
Up to now, meanders are usually designed manually by a designer using a design
tool like AutoCAD, Solid Edge, or Inkscape. However, meanders always have to fit
the realized application and, hence, a large variety of different meanders are often
needed.
5 Designing Meanders
The Meander Designer generates the desired design of the channel and outputs
this design in the widely applicable, vector-based SVG file format (allowing to
download the design and, afterwards, to import into design tools such as AutoCAD,
Solid Edge, or Inkscape). This allows to integrate and connect the meander channel
into the overall design and gives designers the highest flexibility with respect to
the applied design process as well as to the used fabrication technology (i.e., it is
applicable for soft lithography, milling, 3D-printing, paper microfluidics, etc.).
In order to confirm the compliance of the obtained designs (i.e., to validate that
fabrications of the generated designs indeed realize the desired specification), a set
of meanders was generated and fabricated for the following two case studies:
• Realizing dedicated fluidic resistances: This case study considers the application
of generating meanders with a dedicated fluidic resistance ranging from 10 to
50 mbar/(μl/min). To this end, the proposed method was used to generate the
designs, which were afterwards fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).
Then, their actual fluidic resistances were systematically measured and compared
to the desired values.
• Realizing dedicated mixing ratios of fluids: This case study considers the application of generating fluidic mixtures of different ratios. Therefore, a design was
used containing two generated meanders with a dedicated resistance ratio, which,
eventually, resulted in the desired mixing ratio. The mixing ratios 20:20, 40:20,
30:10, and 40:10 were tested, which also represent the used fluidic resistances in
mbar/(μl/min) of the two meanders. The resulting designs were fabricated and,
afterwards, the mixing ratios were measured. Note that the application from this
case study is not directly related to droplet microfluidic networks but also relative
meander channel resistances can be important for realizing droplet microfluidic
networks.
The obtained measurements taken from the fabricated devices confirm that the
meanders automatically generated by the Meander Designer indeed yield designs
that can directly be used as entities in the overall design.
The remainder of this chapter is structured as follows: First, Sect. 5.1 states the
problem description. Afterwards, the method addressing this problem is presented
in Sect. 5.2. Section 5.3 describes the setup of the case studies, which are conducted
in order to confirm the compliance of the generated designs. Section 5.4 presents the
results of the two case studies including the, respectively, conducted measurement
results. Finally, Sect. 5.5 provides a conclusion.
5.1 Problem Description and Proposed Approach
Up to now, meanders are usually designed manually by a designer using a design
tool like AutoCAD, Solid Edge, or Inkscape. However, meanders always have to fit
the realized application and, hence, a large variety of different meanders are often
needed.