Micro-fluidic pump

摘要

A micro-fluidic pump comprises one or more channels having an array of resistive heaters, an inlet, outlet and a substrate as a heat sink and a means of cooling the device. The pump is operated with a fire-to-fire delay and/or a cycle-to-cycle delay to control the pumping rate and minimize heating of liquid inside the pump during its operation.

主权项

1. A micro-fluidic pump, comprising:
a substrate; a plurality of resistive heaters on the substrate; and a cover layer above and spaced from the resistive heaters defining a channel with a volume in which fluid in the channel can flow from one heater to a next heater of the resistive heaters at a rate of over 0.1 μl/min without escaping the cover layer, wherein a minimum number of the resistive heaters in the channel corresponds to a ratio of a time required to cool down one resistive heater to an initial temperature after having been activated and another time between activating two adjacent said resistive heaters.